What is Change? I often ask myself questions to understand the meaning of a word we hear daily. Today is January 2nd. No question this word has popularity from social media to sports broadcasts to everyday conversations. Like most people, at the tail end of 2022, I got away from running and creating time for lifting weights. Over the last 20 months, I rarely miss a day of meditation and yoga, but for whatever reason, lifting and running take a back seat, with the patterned response to myself, “I can do it later, I will do it tomorrow.”
During these last 20 months, I have undergone many physical, mental, and spiritual changes. Unfortunately, the physical part of me is not what I like looking at in the mirror these days. We have in our brain, called the default mode network, that inner voice that criticizes and ridicules us for not being perfect.
To make my valiant effort to change that inner voice, I have committed to creating time to make that inner voice shut the fuck up about my body. Not long ago, I enjoyed looking at my body and thought, wow, I am hot. The last several weeks leading up to the New Year have been tedious. Whole body soreness hurts to do much of anything. If you are over 40 and have taken time off from working out, you can relate to the pain I am enduring now.
As I crept into the gym, which was closed the day before, I noticed it was packed. I am not sure what I expected. Of course, everyone is trying to do the same thing. Start the new year off with a bang, right?! Well, it downright pissed me off to see the gym this packed. I did spend the better part of December in the gym, and I did not recognize one person, which is no big deal. Judge not; I want to get my work out and leave.
After completing my regular two curls and two-way bench press super set that I have done for years. I looked around and saw that the rest of the equipment was all tied up. Nothing was open except a treadmill. I thought to myself. I can stay pissed off, go home, or get on the treadmill and CHANGE.
I began running slowly, repeating the word Change to myself. I repeated the phrase Change to myself for about a mile, roughly 12 minutes. I told you, slow pace. Then I began to receive a download; the letters appeared in my mind C-Creative H-Habitual A-Action N-Nuturing G-Growth E-Expansion. Then for the next two miles, I got excited, fuck Websters, I have my definition of Change.
I ran about 3 miles, a lot longer than I had planned. I set the incline to get me going and increased the speed a little more, and I truly wanted to change at that moment. Then a quote from Emerson came across my mind. “Your actions are speaking so loudly I cannot hear what you are saying” I have used that quote many times while coaching football, but now it makes sense. It is the action that makes the Change. Let us quit talking about it and start being about it. Can we focus so much on being the Change that we finished talking about it and we are the Change? Our physical, mental, and spiritual being is the Change.
The changes I have gone through over the last 20 months are countless, but verbalizing this acronym was electrifying. I was so excited I had to call my sister, who is a certified therpists and an over all bad ass. I explained everything to her, and she was quiet. To my surprise, I immediately felt doubt creep in, and she replied, “This is genius.” We went on philosophizing about the quality of this acronym and so on.
We were breaking it down from the letter C. When I say creative, I mean using our imagination that involves something beyond our analytical mind or some silly mental activity. We are creators of this world, and there is nothing more powerful than the energy of our thought. Let us use this in a fun, exciting way to get what we want and truly Change.
H is not the fun part of this whole process. It involves the daily grind. I heard Kevin Hart say in an interview one time, “the grind is waking up day after day and not seeing any results; that’s the fucking grind.” Do something every day before you talk yourself out of it; that way, you create Change in your life and a better self. Make a better decision today than you did the day before. The only person you are competing against in this life is you.
That might be the scary part. I know it was for today. My legs are so sore that squatting down to go number two hurts. I sure did not want to run on a treadmill for any time, let alone three miles. But the most crucial part is I did it. Regardless of what is holding you back from taking action, the action is the understanding of what is holding you back. We are all scared, but if you can breathe and move that energy of fear out of your body, courage is on the other side of that fear. We live in a world governed by the law of polarity, the world of opposites, positive/negative dark/light; the faster we embrace this, the quicker we become the creators instead of the victims.
N happens once we start taking action on these habitual creative actions. We start seeing the fruits of our labor. We begin to grow and expand in ways we never thought possible. During my transformation, I realized we are here to love and to be loved. We are also here to grow and expand all aspects of our lives while inspiring others to do the same. I hope this helps anyone looking to make a fundamental change.