This past week I had the worst run I have ever had in recent memory. Everything felt terrible. I was slow, my heart rate was up, and everything hurt. The date of my run was September 1.
So, I had a choice to make. Either I take the terrible run as an excuse to throw in the towel and skip running all together. Dump the whole exercise thing…or I take the experience as a learning lesson. Review why I may have been feeling terrible and make the necessary changes to get better from it. My body was yearning for option one, but I decided to go for option two. So, I have made decision to change some things in my life and move forward. Kind of like what we do in January when the New Year begins. But what if we did things differently?
What if we made September our New Year’s Day? Would that not make sense? September is such a time of change; kids getting back to school, programs start up again, and summer is on its way out. What a great time to make a change as well. But really, New Year’s Day can really be any day of the year.
Years ago, research has shown that to change a habit, one must repeat an action consistently for 21 days. This is the time frame that I give for my patients to retrain pediatric reflexes via exercise. Why, because this is what neurological research has shown us. The truth of the matter, unfortunately, is that old habits and changes that we make take a little longer. Why? Because our world is much more information dense. We are way over stimulated with lots of information. And we are dealing with more than just neurological reflexes. This means to change a habit, you need to be consistent for an average of 66 days with a new activity, to make it a new habit. Three times as long as it used to, crazy right? We may know we need to change, but this is why giving up looks much more appealing.
So, my challenge for you is to start this journey today. How about making today your New Year’s Day? Assess how things are going, and if things are not going as well as you like…change it. Take that first step. Don’t wait another day and definitely don’t wait until next January. I promise you, if you choose, this is going to be the absolute very best new year ever!
Until next time,
Dr Joshua Nikkanen
#mybeardeddoc
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