Tough love and "But" breaking

Today marks the first day of a new month, and also the first day of the second half of 2009 (and it's also Canada Day for all my SparkPeeps in the Great White North. ::waves a maple leaf:: ;) There's lots of reflecting and goal setting going on and I'm certainly not exempt from it.

My scale returned from it's vacation and I proved to myself that I wasn't quite ready for it. I stepped on it this morning and saw a number I wasn't thrilled with. I did my body and body fat measurements, all of which dropped significantly from the measurements I did in May, but that stoopid number from the scale stuck with me.

Immediately the rationalization game started in my head - maybe I was retaining water... my carbs have been a /little/ high...I've been under a _lot_ of stress the past few days... maybe the batteries are low and it's not registering right.

It took a lot to stop that runaway train - I had to pull out all the stops and practice a bit of tough love on myself: When it boils down to it, I've done about a 75% effort exercise wise and about a 50% effort food wise of late, so based on that, my results were phenomenal!

When I looked back at where I was in January, I've had a LOT of measurable progress, and I know that where I am mentally is light years ahead of where I used to be. So the scale will be used as a unit of measurement one a week, I have my road map plotted to get to my destination and I'm ready for the road trip!

In the vein of 'tough love', I had to share this article about breaking your 'but': tinyurl.com/mvjg8e

I always find it interesting that, no matter what improvements or changes you are making in your life, the process is still the same. I was reading a blog about money management and it said exactly the same thing - you say that you want to do something BUT unless you are willing to do what it takes to make that happen, you'll stay stuck in the same place you are right now.

I want to get out of debt BUT I don't want to have a budget.
I want to be healthy and fit into my skinny jeans BUT I don't have time to go to the gym/go shopping/prepare food on my own
I want a decluttered home BUT I don't want to let go of anything.

Those aren't arbitrary either: all of those were my personal 'buts' that I've gotten over. I've still got a lot of 'buts' I'm holding on to as well, and the closer I get to my goals, or the more I start working on them, the more they pop up.

Your BUT is really a resistance to change. It's based in fear of the unknown. It usually comes up after you've gotten so sick of your current situation that you declare loudly to the world that you are willing to do /whatever it takes/ to change. Then you create a list of the things you know you need to do to succeed, BUT come up with a list of excuses why you couldn't possibly make it happen.

Today let's try to catch a but. To catch a but, set your awareness button on "alert" and see if you can catch yourself thinking, saying or writing a "but" scenario. Once you catch the but, see if it is standing in the way of your happiness.

Once you shift your awareness, and slowly shift the language you use, you'll notice that your 'but' (and maybe even your butt! LOL!) will start to shrink.