Want to be fit and healthy? Experience a weight loss breakthrough? Normal will not get you there. In fact, it will beat you from the start.
But today we’re pining for things to “just get back to normal.”
In his blog post, There Is No Such Thing as Normal – So Stop Waiting for It, Ryan Holiday argues that “everything that happens is normal.” In that sense, we shouldn’t wait around for life to return to normal. We should be living life.
I agree, yet offer another perspective.
Consider the definition of normal: the usual, average, or typical state or condition. Yes, we’re excited to get back to seeing friends and family. To getting “out” and having fun. But keep normal in perspective. It’s normal to:
Watch four hours of TV per day.
Overschedule yourself (read my post about “Not Enough Time”)
Consume 3 lbs. of sugar per week.
Not meet the baseline of recommended physical activity.
Put everyone else’s needs first.
So, to have a weight loss breakthrough or be in fantastic health, normal cannot be your friend. You must look at normal and do something totally different, like:
Read, dance, play sports…find activities that are pleasurable and life-giving.
Schedule space in your calendar for downtime and self-care.
Enjoy the sweetness of fruit and train your tastebuds off processed sugar.
Make movement a lifestyle…and a priority.
Decide that you are at least as important as everyone else.
To have a weight loss breakthrough, you will need to become anti-normal. To do the opposite of what most people are doing. And you’ll want to surround yourself with others who are doing it, too. If you find yourself with people who are poo-poohing your healthy choices, don’t buy into it. You don’t have to make them wrong – nor should you – but don’t let their definition of what’s normal be sufficient for you.
Imagine feeling healthy, amazing and strong every day. Being at a weight that allows you to feel great, and have more energy to devote to ANYTHING you want to do. Fitting comfortably into all of your clothes. Feeling a little sexy even. Feeling fantastic about your body.
That’s not normal. That’s anti-normal.