As I get ready to head out on a trip on Sunday, it reminded me of my whys and how important it is to not just know your why, but to also write it down and see it often! My last post was about how hard it was to give up things you love. It is no hidden secret that any kind of life change is hard. We are taking ourselves and basically shaking up our lives and destroying our comfort zone. So, it is really important that you know why you are doing this. You need a reason besides, oh I saw it somewhere and it looked cool. Because if that is the only reason, as soon as it gets hard you will give up and start marching in place in life again. Your Why should be big so it keeps your moving along your journey!
I know my Whys. I want to redesign my lifestyle so I can have friends and family over at my place more often, I want to be able to cook at home more for my health, I want to be able to travel more, and I want to be able to give back to those in need. I want to redesign my personal lifestyle so I can do all the things I used to do and love. I want to be healthy enough to hike all the time, I want to white water raft again, and I don’t want to be worried that I’ll be too cramped in plane seats.
These why’s should be the good things that come of the new lifestyle, not things you will do to get there. So, a simple, I want a clean house or I want to lose weight, is not enough. Why do you want a clean house? Is it because like me you want to have people over at any time without worrying about what your place looks like. Is it because a messy house brings you a lot of stress? Is it because you know you will cook at home more if your kitchen is clean and organized? Is it because you are getting older and don’t want to leave a house full of stuff you don’t even need or want for your children to organize and get rid of when you eventually pass? These are the true whys; a clean house and a smaller waistline are just surface representations of these deeper whys.
So, I want you all to take some time and dig deep and find your true whys. Then write them down along with some things you are going to do right away to reach these whys. Once that is done, get some sticky notes and post short versions of your whys on at least one place you will see daily at home and one place you will see daily outside the home (i.e. car or work). Below is my picture of my whys stuck on my computer at work. It doesn’t have to be anything special, just something that will catch your eye and keep reminding you why you are on this journey. Then if you really want to keep yourself accountable, start talking to people about your whys. Start posting on social media about your whys and your journey of Personal and Lifestyle Redesign. The more people who know about the path you are on, the more accountable you will be to that path and the harder it will be to give up when things get tough. Then when you hit a rough spot, reach out to myself, the people you spoke to, and people who commented on your social media posts and let us encourage you along the way. I’d love to hear all your whys and any successes or hardships in the comments below.
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