Spring is habit forming season; a time when we see many new clients interested in inviting more movement and activity into their lives, whether it is exercise, wellness, or self-care motivated. All too commonly, we see people in the spring (or post New Years) set a lofty goal, go all in and get off track shortly thereafter. Some succumb to injury from over training. Others burn out. In many cases, people find they’ve skipped some important foundational work to go for the glory. They discover their bodies need more strength, sleep, or assistance through experiences such as pain and incontinence, which can reveal themselves with more activity.
Research tells us that habit formation can take anywhere from 21-90 days, but truly more like 90-120 days to make it a lifestyle change, which we know has longer, more positive and lasting effects.
90-120 days can feel like a long time. Heck, depending on the change you’re trying to make, 3 days can feel like an eternity.
Here is some more science to improve the likelihood of your success
FACT: The brain responds to positive rewards and reinforcement better than negative. If you really want to make a transformation, make the goal or purpose of the habit positive.
What does that look like exactly?
In lieu of “I want to wear a bikini at the beach postpartum,” try “I want to feel strong in my core and grounded in my body.”
Or, rather than “I want to lose weight,” try “I want to run 2 miles a day to feel independent, strong and be able to play soccer with my kids” if you’re struggling to tweak your goal or habit.
To boil this all down, by exercising kindness and love towards ourselves in forming our habits, we improve our chances of healthy transformation.
What’s one way you can make a positive shift to a goal of yours this week?
