Today is the day! (Unless you have chosen another date in the near future.) You have made a plan. You are ready to start the change.
Change is stressful. Our brains are uncomfortable with change no matter how much we may want to think we are not creatures of habit, the reality is we are created to be. Habits make our lives easier. Just imagine needing to think about every step to get ready to leave the house in the morning. It would require much more energy and thought.
When we make a change in our routine, our for our brain it is like someone came into your kitchen and moved everything. Your brain reaches for a spoon and finds salt, looks for a plate and finds a baking pan. Your brain literally is laying down new electrical pathways to support your new plan. No wonder you might feel tired and irritable!
As you begin this change, it will require more energy and thought. You may find yourself more tired. You could also find you are feeling anxious, tense, a little depressed, or possibly irritable. These are very normal signs of changing habits. Perhaps the change you are choosing is something less about habit and more about your career or a major life change. These also cause much the same symptoms as you consider your options. Change is simply difficult. However, as time goes by it will get much easier and this discomfort will be behind you.
Journal questions for today:
What can you do to help yourself with this discomfort? This is something to consider this week.
- If you are quitting a poor habit, can you replace it with something else? This way it will not simply be an empty spot because you will have something to fill it. This can be helpful.
- What can you say to yourself at times you feel negative feels because of this change? Maybe something along the lines of: “I am feeling ___________ right now because I am changing my life. I can stand the discomfort of change and will soon feel _________ because I am doing this.”
- Would it be helpful to place a list of your values in a place you can see them regularly?
- Would it be helpful to place some of the statements you want to say to yourself where you can see them?
- How can you be kind to you this week?
Journal questions for later this week:
How does it feel to get going on this change?
What are you planning for this week?
Are there any incremental goals for which you can reward yourself in the future?
What have you done that feels like progress?
Challenges in change?
When you struggle with this change how are you talking to yourself? Are you being gentle and kind toward you? If not, how can you change your statements?
What Bible verse can you hold onto this week, pray over, and use for motivation?
Twelve weeks to go…
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