Why do we gravitate to the quick fix? So much of our culture, particularly in the health and wellness space, there are frequent promises of losing incredible amounts of weight in weeks or even days. Many who click the link or find themselves on the Grapefruit diet are there because they are exhausted with their current state and will do anything to not be there anymore. Even if it’s to drink lemon water with cayenne pepper in it for a week.
The quick fix is SEXY. It’s fast, now, results are immediate. Most of these diets or interventions are short lived, intensely calorie restricted states that are challenging to adhere to. But even if you’re able to stay the course the entire prescribed time, you come out the other end with little skills or habits that inform the rest of your journey forward. Like what are you gonna do the rest of your life now that your hell week of cabbage soup is over? I spent many years of my early life thinking I would have a lightbulb moment that would alter my perception and suddenly I would have it all figured out and it would be easy from then on.
But that’s not how it is. Long, lasting health changes are the result of relentless dedication. Waking up on the daily and trying again and again, every day, to show up for yourself. And that’s not sexy. It doesn’t sell. The challenge when you’re still in the midst of desiring that quick fix and finding yourself drawn in by it, is why are you drawn to it? The years I believed I would ‘figure it out and things would be easy’ was so deeply rooted in me that each failure of whatever short term intense program I engaged in, I kept thinking it was just the ‘wrong’ program, but another variant would work. Because my deep system of belief was I would figure it out and everything would click. And I wouldn’t struggle again.
Things have changed for me now I’ve embraced that there will always be some form of challenge for me in this work. I don’t spend time looking for something to save me. My new success is showing up and trying. And I don’t always get it right. But, because I’ve now let go of the short term sprint I believed in, I see this experience as a long ultra marathon. Which means there is less pressure to be perfect all the time, there is more space to let myself relax in the process, let go when I need to. I still strive to meet goals, but I plan for months, quarters, years at a time.
What deep system of belief is not serving you?
Coach Sarah, FNP-BC, MSN