Hello loves,

How have you been?

Today I want to talk about when action beats affirmations. I love an affirmation. I use many when I am running to motivate myself.

I don’t know about you, but I think there is far too much focus on silver bullets. 

The “do this/that” or “don’t do this/that” in the world. The endless stream of “miracle” solutions flooding social media and wellness spaces. And by not following what they say you won’t fit in.

I was watching one of my favourite running channels on YouTube and an advert came on saying “You must drink this apple cider vinegar and baking soda recipe to lose up to 11lbs in a week”. I found myself actually watching it because I couldn’t believe the utter nonsense I was hearing. We used to mix vinegar and baking powder in the science lab to cause explosions. It might be diluted with water to drink it, but combine that with stomach acid and you’re probably going to have a few explosions in your belly too.

It’s not a new phenomenon. 

Cosmo, More, and Zest magazines were full of it when I was a teen in the late 80s. The difference now is with social media being an all-encompassing thing, we are seeing more and more of it. Back then, everyone was told they HAD to do the Atkins diet. After Robert Atkins died of coronary-artery disease linked to the consumption of high levels of saturated fat (although those that still try to promote this diet deny this) that craze died down. There are some slight differences between the two, but nowadays everyone is told you HAVE to do keto. Or be vegan.

It can be overwhelming for anyone. Even more so for those of us who feel like we no longer fit in because we now have a health diagnosis. It can lead to what is often referred to as the shiny object syndrome, or the silver bullet stage. Listen to episodes 72 and 90 for more on this.

The key to dealing with this is being able to manage yourself within the chaos.

In episode 117 I talked about how you have to absolutely believe that you can heal, but sometimes we need some of the limiting beliefs and stories we tell ourselves. Sometimes we need that fear. Because we can have all the affirmations, hopes, dreams and goals we want, but if we don’t actually take action, we will still be stuck in the same place.

If you don’t like where you are right now, we can use the fear of being stuck there to drive us to take action by getting creative to plan steps to move forward.

Don’t be completely fixated with destroying limiting beliefs, do be completely focussed with taking action.

Pay attention to being an action taker, baby steps all the way. Pay less attention to being a procrastinator and self-doubt, and refocus on taking action.

– Take a step back and see the bigger picture

– Identify and observe the destructive patterns in the thoughts and behaviours you have so over time you can direct them in a positive direction.

– Ask yourself where do they come from? Or whose voice are you hearing?

– What biases do they contain?

– Are they constructive or destructive?

– Are they causing you to engage in behaviour that will have consequences you will struggle with later?

Only when you break the cycle and identify these patterns and behaviours can you look to change them.

We can use the fear to drive us to take action. We can use the pain of being stuck where we are to get to where we want to be. Not that it’ll be easy. Doing the work rarely is. I always say that you get to choose, and you get to choose if you want to see what you can achieve when you don’t give up, or if right now the best thing for you is to stay still and rest. I’ll be talking about this more on an upcoming episode, as I move out of a period of stillness myself.

Thanks for listening. If you liked what you heard please subscribe and share the podcast, so that we can get this out to others who are also wanting to take back the life a chronic illness stole from them.

And remember, you are worth it, and you get to choose. Have a lovely day.