Daily-ish Dosage 0032

A Change would do you good

25^th January 2024

Quote of the day

‘The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new’ Socrates

‘By changing nothing, nothing changes’ Tony Robbins

A Change would do you good – by the way this is one of my favourite Sheryl Crow songs and I have had it in my head during the majority of writing this blog!

Can you believe it’s a month since the inevitable whirlwind that is Christmas and New Year have passed. New Years resolutions may have well and truly been abandoned already and you’re either well into the divorce/separation phase after spending way too much time with your better (or worse) half or are desperately clinging on until January pay day.  If you haven’t broken your resolutions (goals) I applaud you. If you have well don’t worry it’s never too late to make changes. I have never been a big fan of New Year resolutions one because I always have a tendency to be over ambitious and want to achieve everything all at once. A bit like crash diets and Christmas spending it’s neither wise or sustainable in the long run.

Change happens to all of us. There are certain things we cannot control for instance you will never be as young as you are right now reading this blog (that’s a powerful thought therefore I feel justifies the bold font). We cannot go back in time (unless you’re Marty McFly). That leaves us with a few options;

• Embrace the changes happening to us even though they might be pretty horrendous for instance with illnesses.  Sometimes as much as we want to, we can’t help our illnesses but we can change how we let them impact our lives. We can accept they are a part of who we are and embrace this. Do our best to overcome challenges we never envisaged having. Try our best to live fulfilling lives with whatever were faced with. (I’ve decided to choose this option)
• We can also choose to change ourselves. Make steps towards goals we want to achieve in all aspects of our lives. Just maybe not all at once like I normally try to do. If we want a different profession work towards that, start taking a course. It might not get you there directly but can get you one step closer to achieving that or also it could make you realise actually it’s not what you want. You might want to learn a new skill; well, it’s never going to happen just thinking of it and not taking action. (I’m also trying to choose this option)

Whilst thinking about this blog I thought of a little acronym you know like the ones you always see about or have to endure on compulsory training courses with work! I’m not totally confident this won’t be on Pinterest/Instagram or somewhere (if you find out it is, well done you get…. nothing!) But here’s my acronym for CHANGE;

C – Consistency, showing up every day even when it gets hard

H – Heart, if your heart isn’t fully into what you are trying to achieve you will never be happy once you achieve it. Stick to your morals and what you’re passionate about you will find the changes you want are all that more attainable because you want to do them.

A – Attitude, changing your attitude to changes out of your control i.e. illnesses, growing older, how people feel about you.

N – Never giving up, you may not reach your destination but you will always have learnt more than staying in one place

G – Goals – having realistic goals to work towards. Changing these goals when they’re no long relevant to what you want to achieve.

E – Effort , like anything in life. The more effort we put in. The more likely we are to achieve something.

I mean you could say you need to be realistic in the changes we can achieve. For instance, if you’re reading this and you’re 100 years old it’s highly unlikely that you’re ever going to follow your dream of being in the Royal Ballet. Same as for me it’s highly unlikely that I will ever be on Gladiators or become one. We can all have dreams sometimes these dreams can get us onto paths we didn’t think we could go on. So, 100-year-old Ethel if you’re reading this, please let me know your secret to longevity and also book a ballet lesson today but don’t blame me if you slip a disc whilst tying your shoes.

Over the past well two years now I have been really focusing on my health. I did to a point before but now I have been more determined than ever to achieve what statistics said I wouldn’t or shouldn’t. I don’t want to stay static in my health. How can I expect to receive all the treatment I have done and advice from Dr’s and Nurses and not be willing to do my part at least. I have worked on my strength, my fitness, my memory, my speech and even my writing. I’m glad to say through hard work and consistency (though not always) I’m making massive changes for me and that what’s important. No one else can save me I need to be willing to put my effort in. Showing up on my tired days, resting when I’ve done too much. But still slowly working towards my goals.

I can’t do this without the people around me for one it would be boring and secondly we all need some support. At present for myself it’s doing the Battle Cancer Programme and having PT lesson once a week, going to the gym, doing walking netball, walking, meditating, looking at my diet. But that’s not forgetting services I have utilised and have been a lifeline to me in the past such as East Lancashire Hospice going to yoga and doing craft, having complimentary therapies. All these things have helped me get to where I am now. I’ve a long way to go.  However, I’m a lot further than I was to becoming a better version of myself albeit a little older (definitely not wiser and slightly more opinionated).

I’ve put two photo’s one was from April 2022 which to be honest I hate looking at but it was and is me. I was on a lot of steroids at the time and a holiday and a walk to the beach was a big ask. The other is me at the bottom of a waterfall just before New Years Eve on walk. Little small changes have BIG impacts.

So, whatever it is you want to change…. what are you waiting for