[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Every year, millions of people let go of themselves in December and undo the work they put in throughout the year, only to pick up the baton again in January and start again.
Below are five reasons I think the best time to start a lifestyle change is December.
- Know thyself
When you are faced with every imaginable food and situation where a binge or a bender is appropriate you will learn a lot about yourself.
Rather than taking a hail mary guess at your New Year’s Resolution and sticking to it for a week, you will be able to compile a list of red flags or improvement areas to work on.
‘This person, that venue, this activity etc. each lend themselves to excess. Now I can troubleshoot each scenario one by one.’
You can never do this in January, because everyone’s gone back to doing their thing, and these events are no longer available for analysis. And you probably won’t remember either.
The only time to do this properly is in the heat of the moment.
- Know who matters
When you decide to do something outside of the norm, people get upset. It’s not personal. Usually people get upset because they see themselves as better than you in one way, and when you do something that is ‘better’ than them (like eating well over holiday), you are shattering their image of themselves.
These people will encourage you to break your goals with excuses like, ‘Be kind to yourself’, ‘You’re not living’ or ‘You’re being extreme’. What they’re actually saying is, ‘I feel insecure when you are successful’.
So, when you declare that you’re keeping it clean, watch out for the people who don’t dig that. What they’re actually telling you is that they think they’re better than you. Smile and wave.
Add ‘Seeing less of those people’ to your list of improvement areas.
- Develop Fearlessness
Say you have two work functions, four social dinners, a one week holiday with family or friends, a big celebration meal, and a big bender on New Year. You’re looking at roughly 15 events that could derail you. If you get through 15 events in quick succession where you would have been tempted to eat filth, you will have built some serious mental strength and resolve.
The next time you will face that kind of temptation is in the April holidays (In South Africa at least). You will take the mindset of ‘If I can make it through the holidays, I can make it through anything’ into the new year.
And by April, you’ll be five months in, and basically unstoppable.
- Have more fun
I have never heard anyone say they felt really good after eating and drinking for the month of December. If you go easy on the wheat, sugar and refined carbs (and dairy for some), you will have more energy, a clearer head and you will sleep better. Fact.
More energy and better sleep will make you more tolerant of your kids (I certainly benefit from this one), better equipped to deal with whatever family politics rears its head, but most importantly, more excited about taking the family adventure, the morning beach walk or the team hike.
- Get the Unfair Advantage
In January when everyone is trying to remember their New Year’s Resolutions, you won’t need one. You can just carry on as normal, but with less pressure, and more practice under your belt.
You will come into the office, the home, the school term or wherever you go after holidays, with a clear head, and possibly a smaller pair of pants – ready to kill.
Bonus Benefit – Break the Pattern
If you’ve been peaking and troughing in and out of healthy eating your whole life, this is an opportunity to break the pattern. A New Year presents many challenges and opportunities, but your health should not be something that you swing in and out of. If you intend on being healthy for the rest of your life, you will have another holiday, and those events and people are going to be there.
How long do you want to wait before developing a way to be unshakeable in those situations?
‘If not you, then who?
If not now, then when?’
If you’re game for crushing 2020, and getting started straight away, you can fill in this form, and we will contact you for a chat.
Or you can call Aj right away on +27 82 445 3028
Happy Holidays, people!
Jonno[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
