Okay, so you’ve decided you want to change something.

You’ve accepted that you’re enough.

You’ve mapped out some goals.

And you’re committed.

Now what?

In order to set everything in motion, you have to get tired of the way things are.  Not just annoyed with them, fed up.  Even the smallest of changes take a serious amount of commitment, so I can assure you if you are complacent with how things are–you won’t be able to commit to the effort.

For instance, one of the smaller changes I made in my life was I quit soda in order to only drink water.  The road blocks were: 1) I hated water and 2) I was addicted to soda.

I tried many times to quit cold turkey.  The reality of it all was, I didn’t care.  Everyone and their mother was telling me how awful soda was for me.  They’d send me links to articles about what the acidity of the soda was doing to my insides.  I didn’t care.  Nothing was more important to me than that crisp, bubbly burn to the back of my throat that made my nose tingle and eyes water.

But if you’ve been around for a while, you’ll know that I used to suffer from frequent kidney infections.  Not UTIs.  Not bladder infections.  Freaking kidney infections.  The last one I had was a pretty serious one, and it scared the shit out of me.  

So instead of focusing on quitting soda, I decided to commit to a certain number of ounces of water per day.  If I met my ounce goal, I could still have soda.  I just didn’t keep it in the house.  Well, I was so busy (and full!) from drinking all the water, I didn’t have time to drink soda.  And before I knew it, I’d go weeks, months without having a sip of soda.  I started to feel better in so many different ways I couldn’t believe it.  It’s been 2.5 years since my last kidney infection.  

I like soda.  And I still let myself have it sometimes.  But on an every day basis, I drink 72 oz of water.  

Quitting soda just wasn’t important to me.  But drinking water became important to me when I realized I couldn’t keep going the way I was.  The options were: make the change or pay horrible consequences.

I realize not all of the changes you might want or need to make in your life will be as cut and dry as that.  But the truth still stands, if you’re okay with how things are, you won’t ever feel that fire to make the change.  I hate to use the word desperation, but maybe I need to.  If you aren’t desperate for something different, something more, something better, you’ll always be where you are.

Are you complacent with how things are right now?

Or are you desperate for a change?

Stay tuned for the next installment in this series next week!