Small steps to help you reach your big goals!

Who doesn’t want the year ahead to be filled with happiness and good health?

Doesn’t everyone want to feel they are achieving and thriving in life!

Everyone is striving to be the best version of themselves; perhaps to be fitter, healthier, calmer, more balanced or just happier than they are right now.

But wellness is not about perfection or unrealistic expectations; it is more about choosing you want to live life with balance and working towards that every day with the goals you set and the choices you make.

It is about asking yourself; what choices am I making, and are they in line with my values and goals?

We are generally very good at knowing the changes we need to make to feel better; it is often that we get side-tracked as the pressures of life and the influences around us take us off-course and hold back our progress.

When you recognise there are areas of your life that are causing you to feel unsatisfied or unhappy, you owe it to yourself to try and make things better, rather than keep avoiding the obvious.

You eventually to reach a point of needing change to happen; then you can actively take back control of the situation and start pro-actively start reaching out for the life you deserve to be living.

This could be one of so many different situations:

You know you need to lose weight for health or self-esteem reasons, and you know deep-down you need to address why you are comfort-eating,

You may be struggling with a stressful job which is making you anxious and unhappy every day, and you know inside you need to make a move but are scared of change,

You may want to get back to an exercise class or sport you loved, but you worryl your fitness has dropped so much you are self-conscious to start back at a lower level of performance and face building back up again.

The big picture may feel overwhelming, and this may be a big part of why you keep postponing starting the changes needed.

The good news is we are all much stronger than we realise. If you look back at your life you have likely survived difficult times and have surprised even yourself with the stamina, resilience and perseverance you can summon-up when needed!

A great approach for any overwhelming challenge is to consider the ultimate end-goal and then look at the gap that exists from where you currently stand to that end point you are striving for.

Focus then on create a journey plan that bridges that gap through a series of smaller steps; small, easily-achievable, bite-size, manageable mini-goals.

Imagine, you want to lose weight, you can be disciplined throughout the day at work, but in the evening after a stressful, tiring day you find yourself grazing whilst watching tv or ordering takeaway food.

Small steps in this situation might include initially:

• Make a few small swaps in your shopping trolley in the first week; try and collect a ‘rainbow’ of different colours of fruit and vegetables you like and commit to making your plate more colourful and balanced; try a few new recipes, fill half your plate with vegetables and ‘crowd out’ the unhealthy, processed foods with nourishing foods that will leave you feeling happy, full and less likely to need to nibble afterwards;
• Pre-cooking a batch of oven-roasted colourful veggies or cooking a larger batch of a casserole at the weekend so you have instant healthy meals ready just to warm once you get in;
• Identify if crisps, chocolate or biscuits are your regular craving food and take control by leaving them out of the shopping basket for a few weeks. Instead trade them for berries, yoghurt or a small portion of nuts or seeds to graze on instead if needed;
• When you feel tempted to open the fridge and nibble, ask yourself if you are truly hungry, or could it be you are actually feeling tired, bored or unhappy. This is a powerful self-discovery! Then figure out what you can do to address the real issue; distract yourself with an evening class or a good book or stretching in a calm quiet place, walk the dog, or buy a good book and take it up to bed or to the bath, away from the fridge. Maybe you just get some earlier nights and catch up on the sleep-debt.
• Find a friend in a similar situation and motivate each other with an evening hobby together, try an art or craft course together, a new language, an exercise class or run together but keep it in-line with your goals and becoming the best version of you.

Alternatively, if you instead are aiming to get back to regular exercise take the time to carefully plan what you want to ultimately achieve; what will be maintainable long-term and what will give you joy, then break the journey into appropriate small steps:

• Focus on a form of exercise you can enjoy! Be realistic; you might love the idea of being a runner but if every time you run you get knee pain, then maybe running is not your sport! If you have tried having a gait assessment, have tried new trainers, advice from a PT or physio and still have recurrent injuries, then find something your body likes more! Try a cross trainer, elliptical trainer or stationary bike at the gym, or work on increasing your lengths in the pool.
• If you prefer being outdoors then embrace the fresh air, sunlight and beauty of nature around you as you start regular brisk walks or try cycling
• If you struggle with sleep when you exercise in the evenings, move your exercise to earlier in the day or try a yoga class, pilates or dancing class instead
• Make exercise enjoyable rather than a punishment and you will stick at it!
• Make your plans specific to you; what time of day do you have most energy? When can you fit in a window of time to realistically get to the gym, the pool or the park without it being a pressure or becoming pushed-out of a busy day?
• A small initial step may just be buying new trainers, or trying a taster session of a class to check it is the right fit for you.
• Maybe packing your gym bag and putting it into the car the night before works well at inspiring you,
• Make a motivating music playlist or find a great podcast,
• Have a positive, reliable friend agree to exercise with you and become accountable to each other!

Small steps may grow into increasing the frequency or duration of the time you spend exercising, or might be aimed at building-up your stamina and fitness for a bigger challenge, or it may be focused on eventually joining a local team or club

Remember to  factor in a timescale over which to try and achieve each smaller goal, stay accountable in whatever form works for you, and also set clear targets along the journey, that once attained can be celebrated with friends.

Decide to set yourself a challenge this month to take a few small steps that will move you towards being your best version of yourself this year.

Be courageous, be inspired and don’t wait for happiness to find you, go out and actively seek it for yourself! You deserve to live life with joy and to thrive!