4 Common Barriers Holding People Back From Reaching Your Health Goals

A conversation with a client today brought us down a very cool path of "Ah-HA!". Although we discovered a deeper meaning behind her choices, it got me thinking about the 4-Common Barriers that are holding people back from achieving their health goals.

1) You CAN'T / DON'T ALLOW yourself to be happy.

This is a BIG one, and it's NOT your fault. We're conditioned in our modern world to DO MORE, BE MORE, NEVER STOP IMPROVING YOURSELF. None of these things are bad, but as always, we've taken things to the extreme. What this approach does is it NEVER actually allows us to be happy, satisfied and even proud of ourselves. I've seen this too often in clients:

When things are going a little rocky in their efforts - They're not happy with themselves. Fair.

When things ARE going well in their efforts - They're not happy with themselves.

Wait what!?

The reason is because we PRACTICE, day in, day out to always be STRIVING for better. Meanwhile we leave behind ALL THE GOOD WE ARE DOING!! The flow, the feel, the habits we're building, the struggles we've overcome, the strengths we've built, the resilience we are cultivating.. All of it is missed. The reason is because we're conditioned to think "there's gotta be MORE I can do" or "I've missed something that could have made me feel EVEN BETTER".

FACT: No matter WHAT effort you put forth, even when you ACHIEVE the GOAL that YOU set for yourself, overlooking this FACT of modern human mindset will NOT allow you to settle into feeling proud, happy and just plain great at any point in your health efforts. You will forever be disatisfied and find something negative about your success/progress.

PRACTICE allowing yourself to feel HAPPY, SATISFIED and PROUD of yourself. Not in an unrealistic "flowers and unicorns" kind of way, but in a VERY REAL, VERY GROUNDED HUMAN BEING kind of way.

2) Your EGO gets in the way.

Human ego is a finicky thing about us. It creates stories in our head that are NOT our reality, it creates impatience and it causes us to try to "force our health to happen" rather than letting Mother Nature work her magic as she does.

EGO is what tells you to "always strive for the max end of a rep range of an exercise" rather than listening to your body and maybe stopping at the lower end.

EGO is what says "just push through" as you ignore pain/discomfort that is edging beyond just "working muscles".

EGO is what has you do 5-days per week, even though you really only need 2-3 to reap the benefits of your plan.

EGO is what makes you think that sustainable, positive change is going to happen overnight or in a few weeks... and then leaves you disappointed when your body hasn't changed (on the outside) in the last 3-weeks time.

Fact: Clients I've worked with over my years in the industry, who have been the most successful all have this in common; Their ego does not rule their habits. Those who have struggled are the ones who are approaching their health like a competition, constantly compare themselves to anyone and anything else around and who have the "put your head down and go" approach (ignoring the signs their body is giving them).

PRACTICE allowing yourself to LET GO. Same deal as the previous point - Not in an unrealistic "flowers and unicorns" kind of way, but in a VERY REAL, VERY GROUNDED HUMAN BEING kind of way. Allow 'ebs and flows', focus on YOU not others and trust YOUR OWN process without feeling the need to "keep searching for bigger and better ideas/options/strategies".

3) Not working from WHERE YOU'RE AT, but rather where you WANT to be.

Usually, these clients I've worked with in this case also are held back from the previous point. The EGO is at work here for sure! When you approach your health habits from where you WANT to be, rather than where YOU ARE RIGHT NOW, your chances of your efforts sticking long term are minimal.

EVERYTHING in life takes time and is a process. Look at nature and you'll see this everywhere. We'd all love to plant a seed in our garden and a day or two later have a beautiful flower blooming in that spot OR a crunchy vegetable to eat. Yet we all know it doesn't work that way. In our health efforts however, we create our own barrier by NOT following this principle and fact of life.

When we work beyond our abilities and skill NOW, we increase the risk of...

• Injury

• "Feeling like a failure"

• Not keeping our habit long term

• Frustration / Giving up on our health in general

Back when I worked with athletes, you'd have a testosterone filled teenage male come in with his buddies stating how much he could bench press. I'd often offer up the opportunity to "start there". NOT ONCE did it come to be true and very quickly allowed me, as their Coach to help them see where we need to start. Also though, it gave us a target in some cases to work towards (which excited them as testosterone filled teenagers). I've worked with adults who are no different. Yes, it would be great if we could just "be where we want to be" health and lifestyle wise, without the process of going through the ups and downs. But that is NOT reality.

Another example is when a client tells a story about their past efforts in changing their nutrition to "healthier" habits and diving in all at once. Rather than starting with something do-able that meets them where their at like "Let's add a vegetable to my suppers this week", they try to follow a salad-laddened week of meals and recipes they've never heard of or even tried! Oh! And they don't even like vegetables.

Fact: Working from WHERE YOU'RE AT lifts ALOT of stress from your shoulders, it opens the possibility of enjoying your habits MORE and it keeps you coming back for more each day. When you practice working from where you're at, you almost automatically ALLOW yourself to listen to your body. On a day where you're "not feeling it" as much, you ease up the intensity and/or volume, or you ease up the "rules" and allow yourself a bit of cake after dinner, but still feel great about doing it! Also, by practicing this approach you can learn that much of the time you ACTUALLY DON'T need to go as far as you think with change!! Meaning you can do LESS than you thought you "had to" and yet STILL achieve your goals!

PRACTICE self compassion. No, you don't have to have a bubble bath with a good book - That's NOT what that means. It means, accept where you are and work with that fact! Use the understanding that "I'm not there yet, but if I do 'x' I am building to that" or "I'm not able to do 'x' yet, because it's never been a regular practice of mine to make it so. I'm going to practice to build the skills I need to get there."

4) You believe you're either "on" or "off" your health practices/habits.

"I'll start fresh Monday" or "Next week I'm really going to be able to get into my health practices".... These are the words of a person who still works with that DAMN WAGON! Yep, I said it. That DAMN wagon! You know when you say to your friend after they ask you how your new health efforts are going and you say, "well, I fell off the wagon the last two weeks. But I plan to get back on after this weekend". THAT wagon!

That is an approach that for most people RARELY is sustainable. It also feeds the EGO and leads us to practice the belief in "perfection" (and if it's not perfect, it's not worth it).

Fact: Human deep health works on a SPECTRUM. It's when we ALLOW ourselves to live ebbing and flowing along that spectrum that we create the most postive, sustainble change in our health and lifestyle habits! Learning to be okay with not "doing it all" some days, but doing SOMETHING allows you to move away from the false reality that there's ANY wagon at all!!

PRACTICE being PART of nature - Because you ARE.  This means allowing days of less intensity in your efforts and days of more intensity in your efforts. It means, allowing yourself to do less when your physiology is telling you that's what it needs TODAY and allowing yourself to push a little more when your body is saying "let's do this!". Nature has rhythm and flow. It balances periods work/effort with periods of stillness. That balance allows it to accomplish everything it's trying to do in time. That's how WE work as humans.

If YOU need help getting OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY and tearing some of these barriers down, connect with us and get the guidance and support you need in your health and wellness efforts.

https://www.zenergywellnessstudio.com/wellness-health-habits