A Year of Tiny Change
Radically moderate wellness goals to let you live with wonder.
Last week I put forward an invitation to join me in a collaborative wellness project called A Year Of Tiny Change. The plan is to focus on one simple wellness shift each month, streamline its implementation, and support one another in taking sustained action.
I’ll show up with simplified, actionable content that removes information overload and allows for consistency…
And you’ll be co-creator by joining in the conversation about what’s working for you, challenging me if I’m off base, and generally sharing the many ways we can all be well.
But before we begin, let’s get clear on the WHY behind this idea. Because action without intention doesn’t last long.
I’m not the first one to suggest we try micro-habit change, we can look to Chris Guillebeau and Brooke Mcalary, just to name a few. Yet, despite bumping around the zeitgeist for several years now, the idea hasn’t replaced our all-or-nothing attitude. It’s a bit odd really, considering that the research points to slow and steady being the most sustainable option for behaviour modification.
But we don’t do it.
We don’t make the small, simple shifts. Instead, a couple of times a year we sign up for volcanic change (and then feel bad when things go bust).
In moments like this, we must activate our curiosity and ask why.
WHY are we conditioned to follow the road best marketed, not the one most intuitive?
Why don’t we pursue slow and simple, but rather submit to the siren song of intense adaptations that pull us deep into the murky waters of self-castigation.
Why do we buy the promise of more for less? More change in less time. More directives for less nuance. More rote action for less meaningful engagement.
We hold onto the false belief that we can fully evolve in one short season, ignoring that all progress requires the stage that has come before.
Sequentially.
Naturally.
Slowly.
We don’t ask nature to provide us simultaneously with heat and snow, abundance and fallow, productivity and regeneration. Yet we expect it of ourselves. To be everything in every moment, rushing to completion, and restless in our realities.
At some point, we’ve all shunned a slow approach to change because of a desperate urgency to “be better.”
This feeling isn’t a natural state, rather it’s a social affliction caused by connecting our self-worth to external metrics of success and coming up wanting. Desperate change often stems from shame, insecurities, and the desire to be outside yourself.
It doesn’t work.
We’ve likely set New Year’s resolutions, or summer resolutions, or Monday resolutions to radically shift something about who we are or how we live but the change didn’t happen because negative willpower fizzles out fast.
And yet we pony up again to make the same promise at the next New Year, summer, or Monday, not acknowledging that a decade of unfulfilled aspirations is incredibly slow going.
We’ve also been conditioned to think that great effort and sacrifice are required for us to make substantial shifts, and self-acceptance is not where it’s at.
How sad if the modern hero’s journey has become a constant quest for personal development
How exhausting that everywhere we look we will find someone sitting there and telling us how to be better.
The current system isn’t a staging ground for growth, but rather one that breeds discontent and ensures we lose our inner compass.
So the WHY of this project is three-fold:
Get us all back in the driver’s seat of our health and routines. A roadmap will be provided, but it’s up to you to make it your own, to suit your lifestyle and your goals.
Put wellness back in its box. Many of us can feel well with a fairly simple routine, and by not obsessing about your lifestyle decisions you’ll have more time to simply enjoy your life.
Let go of old baggage. There’s a reason you’re drawn to the idea of making these simple shifts and understanding what that is will be your first step to success.
For me, six intense years of parenting, crazy relocations, and the pandemic (and the global world that followed) have left me truly exhausted. I simply do not have the time or energy to complicate my routine and yet I know I could feel better.
I also feel very strongly that I don’t want to miss out on my life for fear of being authentically me.
Anyone who has struggled with weight and body image, eating disorders, anxiety, or intense self-doubt knows about the time and opportunities that are lost when you’re in battle with yourself.
I lived too long in that space and it’s not worth it.
Mary Oliver is thrown around with great abandon these days, but it holds true – what are you going to do with your one wild and precious life?
Slow might seem hard.
It’s not exciting.
At first, you won’t notice radical change.
BUT! The shifts that will happen with gentle intention over a steady 12-month period are invaluable and will free you up for creativity, being in community, experiencing joy, and saying yes to the moments that matter.
We don’t need to wait for the next January 1st, Monday, or the fear of shopping for summer coverups to begin. We can start now and we can start so gently that, gasp, we finally stay committed.
A Year Of Tiny Change: Exercise #1
Grab a new journal (it doesn’t need to be fancy, the supermarket sells notebooks for $1.49). This is where you’ll rewrite your personal narrative over the next 12 months.
Start with WHY.
Why are you attracted to the idea of a year of simple shifts?
What would you do with your free time when you stop obsessing about wellness and your daily decisions?
In one word, describe your intention for this project and share it with us all in the comments below. Mine is “wonder”.
And that’s it for today. Jotting your thoughts and feelings on a piece of paper is enough for now. It’s progress. So get writing and then get on with your day :)
See you again soon.
Yours,
Jenn xx
GROUNDED
DREAM