When the new gets old

A few weeks ago, I told you about my cold plunge experience. Y’all, I was so excited about it that I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. I kept imagining the thrill of dunking my body into the freezing bathtub. And in addition to that, I was going through my shoulder stuff and thought it could possibly help. So I signed up for an unlimited trial period. I committed to going every other day for two weeks to see what happened.


And guess what happened? I can do hard things, right? Logic says that the more you do something, the easier it gets. But it actually got harder. The second time was miserable, even after I’d spent the previous three nights dreaming about it. So it was hard to convince myself to go the third time. And the fourth time even more. Every time I stood on that platform next to the bathtub, I dreaded it a little bit more than before.

When you try something new, the novelty of the thing gets you through the first few times. It’s kind of fun to delve into new possibilities. When you start running, even though it’s hard, the exhilaration of that first run gets you on the second. When you make a new delicious recipe, and even though it was a lot of work, you want to try another one. When you start to clean out your closet, even though you’re physically and mentally exhausted, it feels so good that you dive into an even bigger cleaning project.

But then the novelty wears off and the actual work of the thing sets in. And this is where most people give up. There’s this hump where it’s no longer fun and new, but it also hasn’t become habitual and easy. So it’s just hard and annoying and you don’t want to do it anymore.

So, how do you push through that?

First, you have to remember your WHY and stay anchored in that. For me, I’m doing the cold plunge because my shoulder is inflamed and I need the cold to calm it down. I SO want to live without pain and limitation. I’ve had tastes of it over the last couple of weeks and I know that the cold is helping. So I keep going even when it’s uncomfortable.

Health is THE thing that makes all other things possible. You get to define for yourself what do you want to be possible in your life when you’re living in optimal health.

Second, you have to commit to doing the thing (very specifically — for me it was going every other day for two weeks) and then actually do it. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to follow through.

Finally, it really helps to have someone walking alongside helping you keep going when obstacles arise and it doesn’t seem like it’s working.

This is what I do as a health coach. I help you define your vision of optimal health, set goals and start to make changes, and navigate those changes as life happens (and with it goes the focus and motivation that you started with).

It takes a lot of time and work to change your habits and lifestyle. How long depends on the habit and the person. But eventually, the mental chatter does subside and you won’t even notice that going for that run or finding and making the new recipe or plunging into icy water isn’t actually so hard anymore.

​“It doesn’t get easier. You just learn how to handle hard better.” — Kara Lawson