Progress is not always perfection : MINIMALIST

I have to admit something. I can’t change very well. I’ll be 34 next week, and while I have a lot of things that I want to change about my life, I’m not making the kind of progress I was hoping for.

One of the things I’ve learned in my nearly 34 years of life is:

If nothing changes. . . Nothing Changes.

Yes, my life won’t change if I don’t. That kind of truth hits my face.

• If I don’t install this Spanish program and start practicing, I won’t learn much Spanish.
• If I don’t stop staying up that late at night, I get tired every day.
• If I don’t force my lazy bum to exercise more, I will continue to be frustrated with my weight.
• If I don’t change the way I fill my days, I keep resenting how much I work.
• If I don’t take the time to write more, I won’t complete projects.
• If I don’t plan our next big family outing, it probably won’t happen at all.

The list could go on and on, but you get the idea. It’s up to me to change the things that I want to change.

Too many changes

Sometimes I sabotage myself trying to change too many things at once.

Making too many changes at once is like making the mistake of deleting all of the rooms in your house at once. It’s just overwhelming.

When I started the Minimize Yo Butt Challenge, I set myself a lot of goals. I wanted to lose ten pounds (or was it 15), drink more water, exercise every day, and switch to a mostly Paleo diet.

I have to tell you that with just one week left for the challenge, I really only managed to switch to Paleo. All of the other changes I wanted to make didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. But I will not be discouraged.

Victory in every change

Changing my food wasn’t nearly as difficult as I expected. I’ve been a terribly unhealthy eater for years. I just gave up trying to change it. I never felt very overweight, just moderately dissatisfied with my appearance. Eventually, I realized that the slow gain in weight was not only negatively affecting my appearance, but also my overall health.

So the move to Paleo was great. Have I had setbacks? For sure. Do I consider myself the perfect paleo eater? No But I am do it!

The biggest win was the realization that I actually changed something about myself. Now, most of the time I eat paleo as I was hoping. When I don’t eat like this, I know it’s a temporary treat.

I’m not giving up on the change I’ve made and that feels great to me. I am proud of myself for that. And because of the realization that Progress is not always perfectionI feel encouraged enough to address future life changes.

Tell me a change you are proud of. Progress is not perfection! Be proud and brag about yourself.

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NOTE: Dee was the winner of Matt Madeiro’s book Roots. I found it hard to pick a favorite comment and instead drew a random drawing. I’ll be giving away another edition of Roots next week at the end of Minimize Yo Butt along with several other books.

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Article originally published on 08/22/2011