Realistic Change

RMTSteph
Aug 24
5 min read

Thank you to everyone in your patience with me. I have been on holiday for much of August and away from work life. Everything works better when you turn it off and turn it on again!

#Realistic choices are the best way to take care of yourself. I know a lot of people out there will disagree, and that's ok. Everyone is able to agree and disagree with anything they want. It's actually a beautiful concept, this freedom.

But I love #experiments. I love putting things to the test. Experiments consist of six stages: observation, question, hypothesis, experiment, analysis, and conclusion. So let's go through the realistic choices experiment together.

Observation
You are lying in bed at night and feeling guilty about your choices that day. You sat and watched way too much Netflix. You feel like you need to make changes in your life because someone on TikTok shamed you. Yes, it must have specifically been you and not someone just wanting to feel superior on the internet. Basically, you feel like a change needs to be made in your lifestyle. Tomorrow will be the day!
Question
Is there a way I can change my lifestyle to become healthier? You then vow to get up at 6 am every morning to go for a jog. Have you ever woken up at 6 am to go jogging? Do you even like jogging? Do you own running shoes? Most importantly you need to ask yourself, can you do it more than once? Do you even want to?
If the answer to any of those things is no, then your experiment will fail. You need to try something else. Instead of setting yourself up for failure, set yourself some #goals that may seems so small at first, but in reality can end up improving your quality of life drastically. The true question here is, what is my realistic change to have a healthier lifestyle?

Hypothesis
First, you need to be kind to yourself. Imagine anyone that you care about is feeling the way you are now. Tell yourself what you would tell them. Then you predict what will the results be if you wake up tomorrow after getting the sleep that you need and take a 20 minute walk at any point in the day that seems achievable. Will that satisfy those intrusive influencers who are living rent free in your brain? No, it probably won't. Will it satisfy you? Yes, it will. #Cortisol, or the "stress hormone" has been proven to decrease with only 20 minutes of fresh air and moderate paced walking.(1) There are so many other health benefits, but we need to let the results speak for themselves. So for now, the hypothesis is simply: walking for 20 minutes is a realistic change to a healthier lifestyle.
Experiment
The next day, you get home from work, and absolutely do not want to go for a walk. It's been a long day and you are already tired. But for the sake of the experiment, take 10 minutes instead of 20 and just walk down the block and back. You know, for that stupid mental health thing. Then when you are done and home, truly assess how you feel. Reflect on what that 10 minutes out of the 1,440 minutes in the day did for you. If you can give hours out of your day to everyone else, then you can give yourself 10. And tomorrow, maybe even give yourself that 20 minutes. That is, if your experiment is going the way we hope it is. For the sake of science, lets cross our fingers and hope it is!
#Serotonin is that "feel good" hormone that affects all sorts of things, from sleep and mood regulation, to digestion and immune function. Some effective ways to boost that serotonin is proper diet, sunlight, and regular exercise. (2)
So science is telling us that this should work, theoretically. But you can let your own results speak for themselves as you implement them into your life. Make a note in a journal, or even in your notes app on your phone. You do not need any fancy fitness trackers, or analytics for this. Just write down how you felt before your walk, and how you felt after, and maybe your goals for tomorrow. Do this for as long as long as your body and mind would like. Remember, this experiment is for you and for you only. You don't owe anyone any results!
Analysis
So you've implemented these realistic changes into your life. Changes that you have chosen for a desired goal, whether that is reducing stress levels, improving overall health, or maybe you just really want to prove the health influencers wrong (spoiler alert: you don't need to do that, they are not health professionals so their opinions on your health mean nothing.)
This is the part of the experiment where you look at the results that you jotted down. Reflect on your quality of life. Have you decided that these #realisticchanges are attainable enough? Have you reached your #goals that you set for yourself? Are you willing to adjust your goals, or are you happy with your results? There is no wrong answer.
Conclusion
This experiment may have seemed long and pedantic to you. And that's ok! You may be thinking, 'Um, Steph, how would you say you are any different from those TikTok health influencers?' Well, for one, I'm not going to make any health claims for you specifically. I am here just reading science and hypothesizing results.
I don't know your body or your level of health or ability. Every human is different in their capabilities, and you know your body better than anyone. I cannot tell you what to do, because I don't know you.
But I can stand with you in #solidarity and agree with you that it's tough out there. With so much information coming at you about #health and #nutrition, it's so hard to know what is right. I'm here to suggest to you that the right things are generally the ones you can hypothesize will work for you, you try it out to fit into your lifestyle, even if it seems so small that it's barely noticeable by anyone but yourself. And just watch science happen. Make those adjustments as needed. Science takes time and there is always failure involved. Give yourself grace and so much patience.

If you've made it this far through my musings, I sincerely thank you. Health is incredibly important to me. As a registered massage therapist, we're not always recognized as integral members of the healthcare community. I aim to make massage therapy accessible to everyone for a significant enhancement in their quality of life.

I consistently strive to share my knowledge with the utmost care. My goal is never to make anyone feel inferior or to contradict other health professionals, but rather to offer alternative solutions to common health issues. I believe this is how massage therapy has consistently helped people. I wish you all find moments of joy and peace, and to give yourself the kindness that you would give to your best friend.