[00:00:02] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH. Hey everybody, I'm Amy Chang, a nurse, a mom and a health coach, and this is Healthy AF, where honesty and humor and heart meet real talk about feeling good again, inside and out. We're cutting through the noise, dropping the guilt, and reminding you, getting healthy isn't about perfection.
[00:00:30] It's about choosing yourself, one loving decision at a time. Let's get into it. Hey everybody and welcome to another episode of Healthy AF. My name is Amy Chang and I'm a health coach here with Healthy Life Health and Wellness Coaching. I'm so glad you're here. It is officially May and the theme for May is New Beginnings.
[00:00:54] My whole job is to serve people who want a new beginning for themselves. Sometimes it's because they're having a life transition. Sometimes it's because they don't fit into their pants. Sometimes it's a really heavy change. Sometimes it's just because they don't know quite what to do. Maybe their body has changed and they don't know how to exercise anymore. They've had an injury or they've gone through menopause and things are different.
[00:01:20] And they want a new beginning. So, it's an exciting time to be in a new beginning. And it sounds easy. And I wanted to spend an entire four weeks talking about it because, fun fact, it's not easy. If it were easy, I probably would not have a job. But new beginnings aren't always easy.
[00:01:48] To start today, we're just going to do what we've been doing every month. Just giving you a teaser of what's coming. A few coaching questions and sort of getting that brain primed and ready to really think about the new beginnings in your own life.
[00:02:03] And where they feel good, where they feel horrible, and what you can do to give yourself some grace through those new beginnings and also continue pushing yourself forward into whatever the next chapter is. So, we're going to start with Jack and the Beanstalk. I hope you remember the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.
[00:02:29] Jack sells his cow for three magic beans and he doesn't know their magic. And he really doesn't know what he's supposed to do with them or that he's supposed to do anything with them at all. He doesn't know if it's like a gremlin where if you get it in water, it could do bad things. He knows nothing. But he decides to throw these beans in the ground.
[00:02:56] At some point, we decide that we need something different and we throw some beans in the ground. And for Jack, something happened and it was different. It may have been a tiny little sprout at first.
[00:03:16] I'm even wondering like, did he know if he was going to throw those beans in the ground and then like peanuts were going to grow or maybe a pepper plant or a tomato? He got a ginormous bean sprout. And he didn't know quite what to do with that. So, he gets this result after doing this thing and he has no idea what to do. And so, he scampers up the beanstalk. And then he finds a bunch of riches and stuff up there.
[00:03:46] He thinks it's great. Comes back down, keeps going up, comes back down, keeps doing this. And then he finds a giant up there. And things get really dicey from there. Ends up cutting down the beanstalk. The rest is history. That's kind of like us when we are in a new beginning. We need something. So, we throw some beans in the ground.
[00:04:16] And we might even think we know what those beans are going to bring us. But we really don't know. And that's a very uncomfortable spot to be in. I think the worst is when we think we know what the beans are going to bring us. And then we get the giant. And we're like, wait. This wasn't what the new beginning was supposed to be.
[00:04:44] I was supposed to throw the beans in and get like a bean plant and lots of string beans for grandma's Sunday lunch. That didn't happen. So, when we get overconfident that we actually know what's going to happen when we start a new beginning. And what that new beginning is going to look like. And we don't get that.
[00:05:14] That can be a real motivation buster. It can be disappointing, leading to a lot of self-doubt. And a lot of, let's face it, like, forget it. Why am I even trying? I want to dive in to the hopefulness of new beginnings. The excitement of new beginnings. The guesswork.
[00:05:41] The forecasting what could be great. The possible disappointment. The lots and lots and lots of unknown. The vulnerability. And the bravery. That is all encapsulated in new beginnings.
[00:06:02] And so, I thought that for this month, we'll talk about the unseenness behind the scenes of new beginnings. I always think that when we have a new beginning, if we just look right before the beginning, we'll find two different compartments. One of those compartments is the letting go of the old way.
[00:06:32] That's a whole separate compartment. Letting go of the old way. And then there's, of course, the coming to the new way. Coming to that new beginning. And then there's the really sneaky space in the middle. The space in the middle where you actually don't know what to do or how to do it. You just know that you're beginning to let go. Or maybe you have let go.
[00:06:59] Or maybe in the instance of some life transitions, you've literally been kicked out. You've been fired from your job. And you're thrust into that sneaky little middle section. Yeah. We're going to spend some time talking about what all that looks like. Now, if you really want to get fancy, you can look up change theories.
[00:07:25] And you're going to find a model that has these stages in it. Really, the letting go stage is called pre-contemplative. But I like to call it the thinking about thinking. You're thinking about thinking about something, but you might not even know you're thinking about it.
[00:07:48] This second kind of in-between stage is the contemplative, where you're thinking about it. You're thinking about it, but that's all that's happening. It's between the ears. Just thinking about it. And then that new beginning stage, where you're preparing to act, I like calling that fixing to. You're fixing to do something.
[00:08:17] That's where people give me a call. They're fixing to do something. They might need a little help. They might need a little motivation. They might need a little love and grace. And that's why I have the beautiful job I have. So, look forward to those subjects coming up in the coming weeks. We're going to talk about what it feels like and how to move through the I'm thinking about thinking about it.
[00:08:45] We're going to look at how not to get stuck and think you're actually doing something when actually you're just thinking about something in that middle stage. And then we're going to go into when you're really preparing for action. And that new beginning is right there on the horizon. And that's when you're fixing to. Because we are in the South. And I do love some of the colloquialisms of the South.
[00:09:14] So, thinking about thinking about it, thinking about it, and fixing to. They're coming to you in the coming weeks. So, here's a couple questions for you just to get you extra spicy primed up. Are there people around you, loved ones, co-workers, neighbors, who have a constant complaint or suggestion?
[00:09:43] If so, there might be an area of your life that warrants some further investigation. Something that perhaps you don't see as a problem or haven't quite felt sturdy enough to really look at, that it's time to start thinking about thinking about it.
[00:10:14] What are those areas? They're the constant complaints that you hear from all the people who love you. And it doesn't mean you're bad or wrong or that anything has to change. Give yourself grace around that. We aren't even getting married to the idea that something is wrong or need to be fixed or there's a problem. We're not getting married. We're just taking a peek under the covers and getting real because that's where the real living is.
[00:10:44] So, think about that. Give yourself some grace. Don't overthink it. And I'll see you next time when we're talking about thinking about thinking about it on Healthy AF. Thanks for hanging out with me today on Healthy AF. I hope something you heard helps you take one small, kind step toward your healthiest self. If you love this episode, hit subscribe so you never miss a conversation.
[00:11:15] And if you want more support, head over to myhealthylife.coach to connect with me. Remember, you don't have to do it perfectly. You just have to start choosing you. See you next time.
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