First Days – How Do You Prepare?

Today was my first day of school (Sorry, Mom. I didn’t take a picture beforehand!).  I keep reading on facebook about how people were dreading the first day (teachers) or how they were super excited about it (parents). Teaching college students is probably way different than teaching the little people—in college, you talk to grown-up kids and it’s only for 50 minutes a day per class.  I don’t know about you, but I have no problem filling 50 minutes (if I’m prepared).  I don’t like to prepare too far in advance because things change and then I end up re-preparing the night (or minute) before anyway.

My method of prep for school does not work as well for wellness and lifestyle changes. I’ve tried to force it though–it’s kind of like sticking with a bad relationship even when you know it’s going nowhere. You have the want in your head, but you don’t have what it takes to apply it in practical application for a positive outcome.

What do I mean?  The following method won’t usually work:

You want to lose weight? Ok, eat less—-Ready, set, Go!

Rather, you will experience more long-lasting success if you:

1. Plan ahead. Not only do you need a plan, but thinking of the reasons you want the change to happen is important.  Additionally, identify your barriers (and figure out ways to address them—they won’t go away on their own!). Identify the pros and cons of changing, and the pros and cons of staying the same. Then, re-plan.

2. Write down your plan.

3. Tell (supportive) people about your plan

4. Don’t plan to start your plan tomorrow. Set a start date for at least a week in advance, and use that time to keep pondering all of these things and how you’ll implement your plan. Get excited about your plan during this time!

5. Make a plan for re-starting your plan—life throws you curveballs, so don’t try to ignore them and will yourself through. Dealing with them will help you avoid falling off the plan, but if (when) you do get off track, have strategies for beginning again.  Try calling Your Person for a pep talk if you’re losing motivation.

5. Get a wellness coach 🙂 (or a friend, mother, sister…someone who can help you stay on track or do it with you).

On another note (but still a first day thing), Joey and I are starting our juice feast today.  He wants to be done with it by Sat afternoon so he can eat the night before the Rochester Half Marathon. I’m just starting because I have no groceries left…and that seems like a good enough reason (which doesn’t actually follow my own advice about planning…). I decided not to ask the other couple who is doing it if they want to be showcased here (they’re starting tomorrow)–it didn’t seem like the way to go when we were talking. The real reason?  I rarely tell anybody in my personal life (unless you’re one of My People) about the blog—I’m not embarrassed about it, but I’ve spent my entire life preferring to be totally anonymous.  I’d rather people just sort of find the blog on their own…this actually leads me to a whole discussion about blogging, but we don’t need to go there now!

I better go to a farmer’s market or something—all I have is 5 grapefruits, 1 apple, 2 watermelons, and 2 cucumbers…