After awakening to the reality of your life, there's no going back the way you came. With new awareness, you face a choice: continue as before or embrace change. This episode delves into the concrete thoughts and beliefs that shape our existence, from our health habits to our core identities. Discover how expanding your perspective can break down these barriers, opening up a world of possibilities. Are you ready to challenge your limitations and explore beyond? Join us as we explore strategies for shattering the concrete of limiting beliefs, paving the way for a life of intentional choice and empowerment. Are you prepared to take a closer look and expand your horizons?
Trying to get healthy and stay healthy is f-ing hard! Everybody struggles with some aspect of it, no matter what they look like or what they tell you. There is no magic formula - a healthy lifestyle is a choice we need to make daily. Join Amy as she supports, informs, and entertains you on your journey toward health.
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[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH.
[00:00:10] Hey, I'm Amy Chang. I'm a nationally board-certified health and wellness coach, and this is Healthy AF.
[00:00:16] In this podcast, I'll be bringing you all things health, from the newest health strategies to how to tackle those personal roadblocks that just will not let you move forward.
[00:00:27] So buckle in. We're going to be inspired and instructed, and dadgum, we're going to have a little fun on Healthy AF.
[00:00:36] Hey, everybody, and welcome to part two of a two-parter. I think it's a two-parter. You know, I'm not going to say that. Maybe like a two out of three. I'm not sure.
[00:00:45] We're in the flow here at Healthy AF, and I'm glad you're here with me.
[00:00:50] In the last episode, we talked about the way we live when we're not aware that we're living, and the way it feels when life is living us, but we're not living life.
[00:01:02] And we also talked about giving yourself some grace when you realize like, oh, gosh, I am not actually living my life. I'm being lived.
[00:01:12] What then?
[00:01:15] If you've cultivated a little awareness for yourself that there might be some things that you want to change in your life that you've never even seen before as an issue, you're in good company.
[00:01:28] We all tend to have a certain amount of concrete in our brains.
[00:01:35] So you can always work with another person, a coach, a therapist, a friend, a support group, a CrossFit class, a yoga studio.
[00:01:44] You can always use other people to help your behavior change.
[00:01:51] Okay. Other people help you with shaking the concrete loose.
[00:01:57] And behavior changes are vast.
[00:02:03] Okay. I'm just going to say that they're vast.
[00:02:08] The thing that makes them difficult is the static nature of what we believe.
[00:02:14] And we don't know we're believing it because we haven't questioned it yet.
[00:02:18] A lot of times when I start working with people and they're like, I really need to get back to exercise.
[00:02:22] I'm like, great.
[00:02:24] And they say, I just don't have the time.
[00:02:27] Okay, great. Tell me about that.
[00:02:29] Well, you know, I used to love to run and it felt so good.
[00:02:34] And, you know, I would drive down to the park, drive down and, you know, get on the trail and take me about an hour, you know, run the trail.
[00:02:42] And then I come back and, you know, it's 20 minutes from my house.
[00:02:45] And I just, I don't have that kind of time.
[00:02:48] Okay.
[00:02:51] Well, if you really step back and you're not that person, because if you're that person, that is reality.
[00:02:58] They are not lying.
[00:03:00] They do not have time to exercise.
[00:03:03] What they're not seeing and the concreteness is when exercise looks like a 20 minute drive, an hour run and a 20 minute drive.
[00:03:14] See, they've got it that exercise equals, what was that?
[00:03:20] 140 minutes, 140 minutes, a run, a park, a drive.
[00:03:26] They haven't got it that exercise can mean, you know, 10 squats while a coffee pot's running.
[00:03:33] They haven't got it that way.
[00:03:35] And because they've got it a certain way, they are limited in what they believe they can accomplish and what they believe is helpful.
[00:03:50] So, you know, working through those concretenesses are pretty easy because all I have to say is anything that questions the concreteness.
[00:04:07] Oh, okay.
[00:04:08] So, what I'm hearing you say is you got a 20 minute drive and then an hour run and then a 20 minute drive.
[00:04:16] And you don't have an hour and 40 minutes in your schedule.
[00:04:22] Would you consider a different type of exercise or a different type of running?
[00:04:32] And usually the answer is like, huh, I never thought about that.
[00:04:38] Okay, now we're getting somewhere.
[00:04:40] You know, the questions I can ask are pretty simple to bust open that concrete block that they've got about, you know, healthy eating looks like never having a cake.
[00:04:53] Or, you know, exercise looks like an hour at the gym or, you know, whatever that is.
[00:04:58] Those are easy.
[00:04:58] But there are bigger ones too.
[00:05:03] And the bigger ones are sly.
[00:05:07] And typically we've had them for longer.
[00:05:11] And they are much more tender.
[00:05:16] So, we've been reading, I've been doing a book club on Rising Strong with about eight, I think we've got about eight participants.
[00:05:25] Mostly women, one man.
[00:05:28] And we just got to the chapter where we're talking about the concrete beliefs that we have in our head about us.
[00:05:41] And these are tender, tender spots.
[00:05:48] So, I'm going to share with you what the most common shared limiting beliefs we had that came up in book club.
[00:06:00] Because I think you're going to recognize some of these.
[00:06:05] I'm not enough.
[00:06:09] I don't have enough.
[00:06:11] Insert whatever that is in there.
[00:06:13] Time, money, beauty, fitness, whatever.
[00:06:18] I'm inherently flawed.
[00:06:21] Sometimes that presents as there's something wrong with me.
[00:06:26] Or I always make the wrong choice.
[00:06:30] Then there's a shame, blame.
[00:06:34] Whole category.
[00:06:35] It's my fault.
[00:06:37] What did I do wrong?
[00:06:39] It must be me.
[00:06:43] There's something wrong with me.
[00:06:46] I'm bad.
[00:06:48] I carried around I'm bad for, I don't know, 35 years.
[00:06:55] And then there's a whole section about worth.
[00:07:01] I'm not lovable.
[00:07:03] I don't deserve it.
[00:07:07] I'm lazy.
[00:07:09] I'm ineffective.
[00:07:11] And then the humdinger, I'm going to be abandoned.
[00:07:18] Yeah.
[00:07:19] Those are the tender spots.
[00:07:21] And those come up.
[00:07:23] Those come up in everything we do.
[00:07:26] Everything from, like, I can't possibly take, you know, 30 minutes of my day to go exercise.
[00:07:33] Exercise when my family is at home.
[00:07:35] Yes, you are worth it.
[00:07:36] And you are lovable.
[00:07:37] And you are enough.
[00:07:38] Now go get your butt out there exercising.
[00:07:40] Right?
[00:07:42] These things come up.
[00:07:44] Now, when we talk about awareness, which is what the first part of this podcast was about,
[00:07:54] when we become aware that this way that we've been living actually doesn't feel great,
[00:08:02] and we want to look for something different.
[00:08:06] And then we start cracking the door open to see maybe where the concrete is.
[00:08:14] Just maybe.
[00:08:18] We can't unsee it.
[00:08:22] Once you see where your concrete is concrete, you cannot unsee that.
[00:08:28] And then you have a choice.
[00:08:32] That's where you get to pick.
[00:08:34] You get to pick.
[00:08:38] You want to tackle that.
[00:08:40] You want to just keep on living, even having the insight, right?
[00:08:48] That there's a different way and you can do something about it.
[00:08:52] You are not powerless.
[00:08:53] You are not a victim.
[00:08:55] You can make a change in your life.
[00:08:59] You know?
[00:09:00] You get to choose.
[00:09:02] And I'm here to tell you right now, your choice is your choice.
[00:09:06] And it is okay.
[00:09:09] There are some little onion layers I pull off.
[00:09:13] And I'm like, wow, that is clearly my not enough button.
[00:09:22] And I'm going to recognize it, but I'm not going to change anything right now.
[00:09:28] Because it's either too tender or I've got other onion layers, frankly,
[00:09:35] that I need to deal with first and I'm exhausted.
[00:09:42] Or I might just need to use my logic side of my brain and not jump in to fix.
[00:09:52] Because that's a common thing we do too.
[00:09:55] Once you see that your concrete is limiting and it's poopy stink stink and it's lies, okay?
[00:10:05] It is not true.
[00:10:07] Once you see that about your concrete, a lot of times we want to just jump over into,
[00:10:15] well, I'll just do this.
[00:10:16] Well, I'm just going to start doing that.
[00:10:18] I'm just going to say that I'm enough.
[00:10:19] Yeah, that's good.
[00:10:21] No, I'm not enough.
[00:10:22] I'm not not enough.
[00:10:22] I'm enough.
[00:10:24] It typically does not work that way.
[00:10:28] Usually we have to change our seasons like the seasons change, okay?
[00:10:32] Summer doesn't just end and fall start.
[00:10:37] Unless you're in North Carolina and then it could be any season on any day of the year.
[00:10:41] That's one of our gifts.
[00:10:42] We love it.
[00:10:44] We usually ease out.
[00:10:47] We have like a few pepperings of cooler mornings, but then hot days.
[00:10:54] We might have a week of cooler temperatures and then back up for a nice, humid, hot streak.
[00:11:03] We ease through our transitions like the seasons.
[00:11:08] And I would ask you to give yourself that grace and love to do that when you see through your concrete,
[00:11:17] especially when it's the tender spots.
[00:11:21] So once you have that awareness and you start seeing the concrete and seeing that the concrete is not true,
[00:11:30] you have choice there.
[00:11:32] And that's where you can own your life, take charge, and create a life you love.
[00:11:40] I have the best job.
[00:11:42] So I'm going to wrap this right here.
[00:11:44] And we are going to do the third podcast because now we get to talk about when you see the concrete
[00:11:54] and you do the work of being in the muck of accepting the concrete,
[00:12:05] choosing, am I dealing with this now?
[00:12:07] Am I not dealing with this now?
[00:12:09] Now, learning to love yourself inside the concrete.
[00:12:15] Forgive yourself for having it.
[00:12:17] Start doing some baby actions like, you know, maybe I can't get to the gym today,
[00:12:23] but I can hold a one-minute plank and call it a score, you know.
[00:12:29] Or maybe I can remember that when the barista looked at me sideways,
[00:12:35] actually I am enough and it probably wasn't about me and tip her anyway.
[00:12:42] Just tiny little things.
[00:12:45] There's something on the other side of letting go of your concrete and making real change in your life.
[00:12:52] And we're going to talk about what that feels like in episode number three in this three-part series.
[00:12:59] So give yourself some grace.
[00:13:01] Give yourself a whole bunch of self-love.
[00:13:05] A whole bunch.
[00:13:07] Because nobody wants to go look at themselves honestly without having the love to do it.
[00:13:14] If you love this podcast, please like, share, and subscribe.
[00:13:19] And I'll see you next time on Healthy AF.
[00:13:24] Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Healthy AF Podcast.
[00:13:28] I hope that it has helped you create a new possibility for your health and sets you into action to go get it.
[00:13:36] If you want more information or if you want to connect with me, visit my website at myhealthylife.coach.
[00:13:44] And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so that each new Healthy AF episode will be sent directly to you.
[00:13:51] Let's take you from where you are to where you want to go.
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