Change is Difficult. So, Why Do It?

Everybody wants a life full of happiness, love and fulfillment.  But many are far from it.  They feel stuck, trapped in their lives  and go through life on auto-pilot. Sound familiar? We either know someone like this or we, ourselves may have been there at one point. Their happiness is defined by what happens to them and dampened by focusing on what they don’t have.

“I’m now this age. I have this job I don’t like. This is my life. This is my glass ceiling” I’ve heard it before from friends and patients. If this is your foundation for self-identification and self-worth, then yes, you will remain stuck. Nothing is going to change for you. You have to do the changing. How often do you really listen to your inner voice? Are you  moving through life from scene to scene without stepping back and looking at the whole picture? If you find yourself complaining about the same thing repeatedly, then it’s time to break the pattern. And by the time you snap out of it, be sure that your friends already noticed it a long time ago.  Be surprised if some of them haven’t disappeared by now too!

Making a change can be the hardest thing to do.  We can be paralyzed with fear, fear of the unknown, fear of success, fear of what others will think of us. So we back down and retreat to our comfort zone, until frustration arises again and we’re back on the complaining bandwagon. Whether we need to commit to an exercise program, change jobs or finally cut the ties to a relationship that isn’t serving us, the objective of making any change is being true to YOU and living authentically.  There can be nothing worse than going through the motions every day with a feeling in your gut that something isn’t right, or something is missing. Defining your life by your circumstances shuts the door to fulfilling and  extraordinary possibilities. I believe for each day we wallow in our muck and blame other people or events for our unhappiness, we are seriously sacrificing at least three days of happiness and better health. Isn’t life already short?  I believe we are all meant to thrive and we have the potential to do so. Life is dynamic and meant to be lived to its fullest.

As a chiropractor, I am passionate about helping patients resolve their pain and improve their function, naturally. However, their success is determined by their own actions outside my office. Diet changes, good sleep hygiene, regular stretching and exercise in addition to the chiropractic adjustment are some keys to lasting positive results. But this doesn’t happen unless the patient can get into a healthy, positive mind space- free of self judgement and free of negativity.  THIS is the big challenge and THIS is what makes change so difficult. So, how do we get there?

Step One: Listen to your inner voice. I know, hard to do for most of us, especially the driven, multi-tasking manic Type A’s!  This takes patience and practice. (Click HERE to see my blog article on meditation)

Step Two: Own your shortcomings and pitfalls which have been holding you back. Don’t just admit them to yourself.  Accept that you are not perfect then ask yourself “if this pattern keeps holding me back, why wouldn’t I want to correct it in order to propel my life in a positive direction?”

Step Three: Most of us are visual people. So, draw a big picture of the life you want to live (seriously, draw it- pen to paper!) then draw a timeline going back 5 or 10 years of your career and life landmarks and project your end goal out into the future. Take a good look at where you’ve been and where you want to go. Then you can map the steps towards the life YOU envision. Post your roadmap where you are forced to see it multiple times each day.

If the fulfilling life you deserve is worth the work, pain and hassle of changing, then you will exercise your power to make it happen.

My soon to be released book will help identify destructive, negative patterns holding us back from better health and a fulfilling life and will include some neurophysiology explaining our behaviors, moods and decisions. I will also be sharing tips to overcome the blocks, break those barriers and finally gain results to live the life that truly makes you happy.  We all get a little stuck sometimes. But do you want to stay stuck? You can let life happen, or you can make life happen.

I sincerely hope this article opened the door to a greater awareness of your unique and extraordinary living potential.

“Our deepest fear is NOT that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure”. ..Marianne Williamson, “Getting Unstuck. Creating a Life of Love, Enthusiasm and Gratitude”

With love, kindness and compassion,

Dr. Melanie