As we usher in 2025, this episode of Healthy AF is all about the art of letting go to welcome the new. Amy dives deep into the concept of clearing out the old—be it limiting beliefs, outdated views on exercise, or any other barriers holding you back. It's not just about adding new resolutions to your list; it's about making room for them by releasing what no longer serves you. What do you need to let go of to truly embrace the possibilities of 2025? Join Amy as she explores how shedding the old can liberate space for new ideas, habits, and behaviors, ensuring you're not just piling on the new but truly transforming for a brighter year ahead.
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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[00:00:01] Hey, I'm Amy Chang. I'm a nationally board-certified health and wellness coach, and this is Healthy AF.
[00:00:08] 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.
[00:00:19] So buckle in. We're going to be inspired and instructed, and dadgum, we're going to have a little fun on Healthy AF.
[00:00:28] Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of Healthy AF.
[00:00:31] This is the first episode of the new year. Happy 2025!
[00:00:36] It's so nice to be in a brand new year. It feels fresh, doesn't it?
[00:00:43] And for me, my birthday is January the 2nd, so it really feels fresh.
[00:00:50] I've got the benefit of the brand new year and the benefit of my brand new year.
[00:00:56] So it's always exciting for me, come January the 2nd, when I really get a double shot of a new slate, brand new fresh day.
[00:01:07] And like many of you, I know I've been doing work with my coach on what happened in 2024, what I would like to happen in 2025, and maybe how I would like to be or flow or be different in 2025.
[00:01:33] And I wanted to spend some time on that today, because so many of us are looking at either making a resolution or just making a new promise to ourselves of what we really feel committed to, what we really want to have in our lives over the course of this next year.
[00:01:56] And there's some letting go.
[00:02:03] There's some letting go so that we can pick up something new.
[00:02:07] So when I see people, myself included, by the way, charge full steam ahead with that New Year's resolution or that new action, that new push, that renewed vigor for whatever commitment we're having,
[00:02:32] I'm always a little bit tentative about, you know, January, what is it?
[00:02:41] Maybe the 15th, maybe the 20th, when that date rolls around and we got the letdown.
[00:02:49] As many of you know, my work is in coaching people to sustainable, healthy life choices.
[00:02:58] Sustainable, healthy life choices.
[00:03:00] Not the choices that get us to the goal in 12 weeks.
[00:03:08] And then on week 13, we start sliding right back to what our old patterns were.
[00:03:17] And by week 25, we've put the weight back on.
[00:03:22] We're out of the gym again.
[00:03:25] We're back to those really stressful ways of living.
[00:03:32] My work is in sustainability.
[00:03:35] And to be sustainable, there's a letting go when we look at adding in.
[00:03:44] And without the letting go, we get into some trouble.
[00:03:48] So I wanted to spend just a few quick moments today, just quick, quick moments to talk about what it is that you might need to let go of and why that would be important.
[00:04:06] First of all, let's look at what happens in our closets.
[00:04:13] We've just come through the holiday season.
[00:04:15] And our closets, which probably were already a little bit full, are now getting brand new sweaters and shoes.
[00:04:26] Oh, I got a pair of Uggs for Christmas.
[00:04:27] I'm so excited.
[00:04:29] And I'm going to shove those in my closet, right?
[00:04:33] It's already full.
[00:04:34] I'm just going to shove the new stuff in there.
[00:04:36] It'll be great.
[00:04:37] Well, what are the chances that I won't even be able to find that new sweater?
[00:04:43] I'm going to have a pair of pants.
[00:04:43] I'm going to have a pair of pants.
[00:04:43] Or maybe I don't know what to wear with that new sweater.
[00:04:49] And so every time I pick it up, I'm having to like search through my pants to see what it's going to match.
[00:04:56] Ah, forget it.
[00:04:57] It's just easier to put on this old brown sweater because I know that it goes with these two pair of pants.
[00:05:04] See, there's some letting go of the things in our closets that maybe don't serve us well.
[00:05:14] I'm going to give you another example.
[00:05:16] Two more, actually.
[00:05:18] One is a very specific example.
[00:05:21] One is a very conceptual example.
[00:05:23] A very specific example is when people come to me and they want help creating a new exercise plan.
[00:05:35] They maybe haven't exercised in a few years.
[00:05:38] Maybe it was after that injury or they just never kind of got back to it.
[00:05:43] Or maybe it was after the babies were born or the job change or whatever that was.
[00:05:48] And they almost always have an idea of what they've done in the past for their exercise plan and why it doesn't fit into their current life.
[00:06:07] So let's say the guy who just opened his own business and now he's really having to put in the hours.
[00:06:16] And that two-hour gym morning just doesn't fit into the schedule anymore.
[00:06:22] And he's tried it.
[00:06:24] He's tried getting up earlier so that he could go.
[00:06:28] He's tried just going to work in later.
[00:06:30] And nothing seems to quite work.
[00:06:34] The first thing that we usually work on is letting go of what does fitness and exercise look like.
[00:06:45] Because for him it's looked like two hours at the gym.
[00:06:50] And we got to let go of that.
[00:06:53] We have to let go of the concreteness that exercise looks this specific way.
[00:07:01] So that we create the vacuum for some of those new ideas to come in.
[00:07:10] Then we can utilize the new ideas.
[00:07:14] Then we can pick up the sweater.
[00:07:17] When we have too many old ideas and we're trying to just tweak them.
[00:07:27] Maybe if I just go to the gym, you know, for 95 minutes, it will feel good.
[00:07:36] Hmm.
[00:07:37] Same idea, just a tweak.
[00:07:41] Let it go.
[00:07:43] Let go of that idea completely.
[00:07:45] We may bring it back later.
[00:07:48] But typically to start, it's the letting go of that concrete old thing that creates the space for newness.
[00:08:01] Things that you never even expected in your life.
[00:08:06] Things that you wouldn't have thought of if your mind was still so cluttered with trying to make something that wasn't workable work.
[00:08:19] In a very conceptual way, I was talking to a friend over the holidays and said,
[00:08:26] What do you want to have in 2025?
[00:08:30] And he kind of quietly said, More confidence.
[00:08:37] Okay, great.
[00:08:40] So then the question is, what do you need to let go of so that confidence can come in?
[00:08:48] Is it self-doubt?
[00:08:49] Is it negative thinking?
[00:08:54] Is it a critical self-voice?
[00:08:59] Is it a belief that everything you do is screwed up?
[00:09:03] Or that there's something wrong with you?
[00:09:07] What do you need to put down?
[00:09:12] So there's always something to let go of.
[00:09:15] You can see in a very conceptual way, there are so many times I've thought to myself,
[00:09:20] If I want to lay this worry down, then I can pick up faith.
[00:09:29] Very difficult to hold worry and faith in the same space.
[00:09:37] Very difficult to hold self-doubt and confidence in the same space.
[00:09:46] So there's some letting go conceptually that allows you to pick up new ways of being.
[00:09:54] And there's a letting go of action and of physical things that allow you the space to have new actions appear
[00:10:06] and new things in your physical space, physical environment.
[00:10:14] So here it is for you.
[00:10:19] What is it there is to let go of for you to have the space for 2025 to come to you in that sustainable way?
[00:10:39] In that way that when we talk about December of 2025, it's still happening.
[00:10:48] And it's made a difference for your life.
[00:10:54] And we'll say it again.
[00:10:57] What is it you need to let go of to create space for 2025 to come to you?
[00:11:07] That's the work.
[00:11:09] We're not just throwing new actions on a poop sandwich and calling it a cake.
[00:11:16] We're building from the beginning.
[00:11:19] Guys, I'm so excited to be here in this brand new year with y'all.
[00:11:23] I'm hoping you all have the love and all the peace and all the growth and all the self-reflection,
[00:11:34] the honest self-reflection to get you exactly where you want to go.
[00:11:40] Give yourself some grace when you miss the mark.
[00:11:43] If you need to talk, hit up the website and schedule yourself a consultation.
[00:11:48] We'll see if coaching is right for you.
[00:11:50] Thanks, guys.
[00:11:51] And I'll see you next time on Healthy AF.
[00:11:57] Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the Healthy AF podcast.
[00:12:01] I hope that it has helped you create a new possibility for your health and sets you into action to go get it.
[00:12:09] If you want more information or if you want to connect with me, visit my website at myhealthylife.coach.
[00:12:16] And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so that each new Healthy AF episode will be sent directly to you.
[00:12:24] Let's take you from where you are to where you want to go.