Days 15 and 16 - Making Change

Super-head warming on a cold and yucky day.

Super-hydration on a blood donation day.

Explaining this challenge to people forces me to think about why I'm doing it.

The truth is, I'm doing it for a few reasons:

1. I want to prove to myself that it is possible (which is sort of the way this guy feels about trudging across frozen landscapes, I guess, but...less about cold and more about sports bras).

2. I want to make a change in my life that will lead to a happier, healthier existence

3. I want to help other people make a change in their lives by being an example of positive change

When it comes to the third reason, I know that being an example isn't enough. Sure, it's helpful to show people that making change is possible (and I hope to do that!), but ultimately they will need to generate their own reasons to change. 

And the reasons they choose have to somehow motivate them to keep trying to do a difficult thing.

In med school, we learn a bit about motivational interviewing and the transtheoretical model, or "stages of change". At a very basic level, the idea behind both is that when people begin to generate their own reasons for healthy change, they will be more successful than they would be if those reasons were given to them.

This concept is often used in practice for smoking cessation counselling - first, we identify a smoker, and then we determine whether he or she is ready to quit smoking. We ask the smoker to generate reasons for quitting smoking, and then build on those reasons while generating a quit plan that supports them (for example, with counselling, healthy habits, nicotine replacement, and/or medications). One of the questions we don't often ask of ourselves or of patients, however, is which reasons actually help with smoking cessation. We assume that any internally-generated reasons are good enough.

But what are good reasons to change?

I wish I knew more about the topic and was able to find some good resources to support what I'm about to say, but I've thought long and hard and I think the best reasons to change are the trivial ones.

Sure, you could tell a smoker that she's more likely to die from lung cancer or suffer chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) if she keeps smoking, but will that get her to snap her cigarettes and flush them down the toilet? Doubtful. She's heard it before, and the long-term benefits associated with smoking cessation are just that...long-term. They're not relevant in the very moment when she's craving a smoke. You know what might be? That she won't smell of smoke if she doesn't have that cigarette. That she won't have smoker's breath. She doesn't have to wait 20 or 30 or 45 years to reap the benefits of not smoking that cigarette. She can start now, and every time she's craving a smoke, she can immediately enjoy the benefit of not smoking.

Diabetes won't stop me from eating this. The shape of my ass will.

Starting a regular routine of physical activity is a lot like quitting smoking - we have to recognise a need, generate reasons, create a plan, and then put that plan into action. And we may, like the smoker who quits, have to battle against backslides and relapses.

Desi is motivated mostly by food.

I don't always want to work out, and knowing that I'll reduce my risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease isn't powerful enough to get me to the gym. And yeah, both run in my family and are very real risks. Know what works for me? I know that if I I get to the gym, I'll feel better for the rest of the day. I know that if I go for a long run, I can eat a nasty treat and not worry about the calories. I know that I'll sleep better tonight. The benefits I know I'll encounter in the near-term are far better motivators than the ones I won't experience until I'm 50.

I'd love to know what motivates you, lovely (but silent) readers. What gets you to the gym, the pool, the yoga studio? What keeps you reaching for fruits and veggies? Am I on to something here, or way off the mark?

Can we help each other and ourselves make positive change by focussing near future and forgetting about the long term?

Oh. And I did two hours of cardio on Day 15 and 75 minutes of yoga at Studio 330 this morning. Yep.