If you’ve ever tried to make healthy lifestyle changes you’ve probably fallen flat on your face like sideshow Bob from that one Simpson episode with the rakes.
But it turns out it’s not completely your own fault for failing.
Research says that our brains don’t stop forming until we are 25 years old. After that, your beliefs are pretty much set. And if you want to change your life after that golden age you have to work extra hard.
Basically, it’s a real struggle to change your life after you’ve decided how you feel about it.
But it is possible.
I know it’s possible because I’ve changed my own life after the age of 25. For one thing, I’m fairly sure I’m less dumb these days. But I’ve also changed my relationship with my emotions and with food, for example. And those two things are a pretty big deal for me.
But I could have changed these things without one thing that I think gets overlooked when it comes to building better habits and making lifestyle changes that actually stick for the long term.
In my opinion, the lack of this one thing is why most people stay the same way forever, never being able to change for the better no matter how hard they try.
Without this one thing, all your efforts are dead in the water before you’ve even begun trying to build better habits.
And this one thing might surprise you. So what is it?
Faith.
Not in a man in the sky but in the idea that the better version of yourself CAN exist.
Why?
Because when you’ve lived a certain way for long enough you believe that’s “just who you are”, and “you aren’t the kind of person to do X, Y, Z.”
But you can change and having faith is crucial.
Here’s an example of how having faith has helped me.
I was an anxious mumbling mess when I was a teenager and into my twenties. I thought I’d always be that way. I couldn’t see a version of myself out there that could stand on his own two feet and achieve the things I’d always dreamed of.
But I’m closer to that version of myself than ever before, all because I stuck with having faith. I had to believe that it was possible, even though everything within myself was saying otherwise.
If you don’t have faith in yourself, no amount of external support is going to help you make the lifestyle changes you want.
When you keep your faith you can begin making important changes.
After all, no one can go for a run for you. No one can lift up a barbell for you. No one can ask for a pay rise for you. No one can change what you put in your mouth but you.
And you can only do these things for yourself on a consistent basis when you have faith in yourself.
You have to believe in something that doesn’t exist yet. And that is a difficult thing to do which is why most people fail with their diets and churn and burn New Year’s resolutions. It is not a lack of willpower that fails them, it’s a lack of faith.
Just like a god, you have to believe in something greater than the current version of yourself.
So how do you build faith in yourself?
This is the tricky bit. Some people will have no problem having faith but most of us need to build it, especially if we don’t have much belief in ourselves at this current point.
A good place to start is by designing the kind of person you would like to become. Then make that person your version of god. Believe in that better version of yourself.
Make a list of the habits that better version has
For example;
- They stretch every day before work
- They eat healthy foods 70% of the time
- They get up and work out three times a week
- They drink 8 cups of water a day
- They are kind to people
- They don’t react through emotion but are mindful of how they behave
- They help others
Whatever the habits you want to have, you first have to believe they are possible. And if your desired lifestyle changes are anything close to the above, they certainly are possible, even if you haven’t done any kind of exercise for years and currently eat junk all day.
You can switch it up at any point.
Once you have an idea of what that better version of yourself looks like, go nuts and draw them. Stick them on your fridge or place them on your counter.
Make a list of all your achievements
You probably have more achievements than you know. You might be stuck in the mindset of “i never win anything” and “I never have any luck!”
But the truth is you do.
I thought this too. But when I look back carefully I’ve got a bunch of achievements that I’ve totally forgotten about because I didn’t see them as important. It could be something as small as winning a gymnastic award or winning a tournament of some kind. You’ve probably got a medal or two knocking around in your attic that you’ve forgotten about.
Even though these small achievements might not seem important now, they are all evidence that you are capable of changing and being more than you realise. They represent a time in your life when you reach a new level.
And these achievements don’t have to be athletic. They can be anything. Perhaps you won a spelling test, for example. Or maybe you got an A grade in a subject.
When you’re lacking faith in yourself, make a list of all of these small achievements to remind yourself that you’re capable of more when you apply yourself.
Forgive yourself and draw a line in the sand
To build faith in yourself so you can finally start making healthy lifestyle changes, you have to let go of the old version of yourself once and for all. But in my experience, you can only do this once you have forgiven yourself.
You don’t want to demonize the old version of you that didn’t believe in yourself or you’ll only encourage negative self-talk and completely miss the point.
You have to draw a line in the sand and say “Okay, that was me then, this is me now,”
you can’t become the better version of yourself without making peace with the old you first.
Wrapping it all up
When it comes to making healthy lifestyle changes, faith is essential. You literally have to believe in something or a version of yourself that doesn’t exist yet. You have to challenge your core beliefs about yourself or your old beliefs will pull you back to bad habits over and over again.
But there is a better version of yourself under the surface that lives the kind of habits you want to live. First believe that person can exist to allow them to come through.
Start creating better habits today.
If you’re ready to start organising your life so you have the space to create better habits, download your FREE Better Habits Bundle now.
Sean C is a writer, passionate about improving one’s self by maintaining healthy habits and doing the things that make life more meaningful.
