Guest blogger Hope Zvara of Mother Trucker Yoga explains how to break past the initial sticking point towards better health
Bridging the gap is when you ask yourself, “What else do I need to do to get me where I want to go?”
Have you ever been stuck in a rut? You know that you want to improve several different aspects of your life, but you don’t know where to begin?
Is it challenging to stick with something because of the overwhelming amount choices and the lack of support, information, and outreach?
It is challenging and scary when you finally decide to make a change and take steps to improve health. And it can be even more challenging when you try to do this while on the road multiple days a week, with limited resources to help you fully forge on your new quest towards better health and well-being.
What happens is that when people try to improve their health it is confusing, intimidating uncomfortable, or it doesn’t work.
As a mindfulness lifestyle and fitness professional I see this all of the time. People get frustrated when they don’t see immediate results.
We all want immediate results, but who wants to wait a week, a month or even six months? When it comes to making changes in our bodies you must consider a few things:
- How long did it take you to get to the current state?
- Does your current lifestyle support the changes you desire to make?
- Who is your support system when it comes to these changes?
- What else are you doing to make this transition go from hard to great?
How long did it take you to get to your current state is a very important question and one that we could write an entire book about. For today consider this formula: Add up one month for every year you have had this current issue and total them up, and you will get ballpark figure as to how much time you will need to dedicate to make those desired changes.
Secondly, does your current lifestyle support such changes? If not, what will you do to ensure those changes stick? What other things can you do to support your new lifestyle?
Finally, who will help you? If you are on the road, consider virtual support like a Facebook groups or online platforms that offer client support. Everyone needs support and accountability in order to succeed.
Lastly, what else are you going to do to help you get to your goal? What will help you soar past your goals? Years ago had a 75 year old yoga student named, Jane. After a few months of doing yoga with me she decided she was going to quit smoking. She fell in love with yoga and talked about it constantly, but talking about yoga with a cigarette in her hand did not sit well, so after 50 years of smoking she quit! Quitting smoking helped tremendously when it came to breathing because she often felt out of breath in certain yoga poses. Additionally, she began to practice breathing exercises at home and started walking to improve her lung function and strength.
Another client, Rob, traveled a lot as a salesman and lived in rental cars and airplanes. In a quest to help fix his back pain and poor posture, he decided to place something behind his back while sitting on the plane and in the rental car. Although this helped some with his posture, his back hurt more than ever and he felt very discouraged. Rob was ready to “forget it” and go back to having back pain all the time.
What is the difference between these two clients?
One decided to do what I call, “bridging the gap”, and the other had not.
Bridging the gap is when you ask yourself, “What else do I need to do to get me where I want to go?”
Rob’s goal was to eliminate his back pain, so he tried yoga. His back pain was so severe he couldn’t do yoga. So, Rob bridged the gap and used a product specifically designed for spinal support and back pain like BackShield (see my review of BackShield below).
But the opposite could also be true. Maybe you have already invested in a product to improve your health and it just does not seem to be living up to its claims. Maybe you need additional support to help that product do its job. Yoga? Tai Chi? Stretching? More frequent stops or breaks where you can get up and move? This is critical to consider in order for that new investment to truly live up to its claims.
Remember the formula, one month for every year you’ve had the issue or problem when it comes to making a permanent change?
So that means:
NEW PRODUCT X 1 MONTH (FOR EVERY YEAR) + SUPPORT = DESIRED RESULT
Don’t be frustrated; change takes time! It can be fun, exciting and feel great when you approach it with a positive outlook with the right tools and the right support.
If you’ve started a new road towards health, congratulations!
If you are feeling frustrated or defeated, ask yourself the four questions above and remember to bridge your gap so everything that you do is not all for nothing.
— Hope
