If you've been thinking about changing your relationship with food for a while now and you just haven't taken the next step, it might be time to find your "why."
(Which then actually becomes taking the next step and, voila!, you're on your way 🙂 )
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Changing your relationship with food requires, well, making changes. But deciding what changes to make and taking action is actually the second step in creating long-lasting changes on your journey to food freedom. And if you feel stuck right now, it might be because you already know that jumping into changes doesn't typically lead to the results you crave - you've been there before, yes?
OK, so let's try something different this time, shall we? Let's back it up and start with step 1: building awareness. Building awareness will allow you to find the motivation to not only get started, but also to keep going (if you haven't already - I highly recommend that you go read the posts about my 3 step process to finding food freedom).
Your "why"
The specific element of awareness that we're talking about today: finding your "why."
Before you dive into action, it's super helpful to get up close and personal with why you want to make a change. How will your life be different when you stop worrying about food and weight? What will that create for you? I truly believe this is an essential thing to know, because once you know why you want to make a change, it’s much easier to stick with the exciting, messy, emotional, failure-filled process of actually changing.
Finding your why means finding the roots, the foundation, the underlying problem you want to solve.
But finding your why, your real why, isn’t always easy. Because it rarely sits at the surface, waiting to be seen. It typically lies deep down, under layers of beliefs and values and fears that you may not even know exist.
Find your why
I recommend the following process for digging into your why. You may have to do this a few times to really get to the roots. Just stick with it. It's worth it.
Ask yourself, “Why do I want to find food freedom?” And when you hear the answer, ask: “Why do I want that?” Another answer and another ask, “Why is that important?” Your why has many layers. You have to dig through them to get to the root and see it clearly.
You know you have gotten to the most meaningful part of your why when the answer makes you feel giddy or makes you cry. Either way, it’s awesome.
A real-life example:
- I want food freedom because I am tired of always worrying about what I can eat and how it will affect my body.
- I want that energy back because I want to feel more focused and present.
- I want to feel more focused and present because I want a stronger sense of connection with my family and clients.
- I want to have a stronger sense of connection because I want to feel more confident as I take my business to the next level.
- I want to be more confident because I truly believe I can change the world with the work I do and I don't want anything holding me back!
There it is: I want to find food freedom because I want to change the world with my business while also remaining connected with my family.
And here's the best part - finding your "why" will also likely help you find the emotional needs that are currently driving emotional eating. The goal isn't to shift the food to solve for the emotions (that doesn't work. It's just a big lie we've been sold over and over). The goal is to heal the emotional while shifting the food.
Be obsessed with your why
Write it down, read it daily, remind yourself what you are working toward. When your why is front and center in your mind, the hard times, the emotional side, the failure, the discomfort, the setbacks, the doubt don’t stop you from keeping going.
When you know your why, it’s easier to move away from quick fixes and move toward lasting change.
Evaluate your why
Why’s change and sometimes we have a why and then realize it wasn’t the right why. That’s OK. A good sign that you haven’t gotten clear on your why is that you aren’t committing to your changes or you aren’t making progress.
I am passionate (like, seriously crazy excited) about helping people find their why. It's one of the first things we work on when you come coach with me so that you feel energized and excited about your journey. Ready to see if my work is a good fit for you? Click HERE to schedule a free discovery call.
By the way - The importance of finding your why is not a new concept. In fact, the 3rd most-viewed TED talk is all about how this shows up in corporate culture and branding (if you haven’t seen it, you have to go check it out HERE). It is also heavily utilized in process improvement. Sakichi Toyoda, found of Toyota, used a method called “The 5 Whys” to identify problems on the production floor.