To Your Future Self...

Have you ever wondered why it's so hard to take action toward building new habits or shedding old ones, even if you know it's what you want?
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Let's say want to gain some muscle, get stronger, and feel good in your jeans. You know that likely means strength training on a regular basis, paying more attention to protein and nutrition, and prioritizing recovery.

So why do you find yourself stopping and starting week after week?!

It's a multi-faceted answer, but I'm gonna share a part that I bet you didn't know!

According to brain scans, when we think about our past selves, we light up as if we are thinking about someone we care about deeply.

But when we are asked to think about our future selves, the scans read as if we are thinking about a stranger.

This is also why it's so easy for us to stay up late scrolling cat videos when we know we should go to sleep. That's "future (self)’s problem!" and according to your brain, you like, don't even know them.

How do we work with this?

The answer to that is also multi-faceted, but bringing awareness to it is certainly part of it!

Reminding ourselves that caring about future-us is an important part of self-care in the now (and that self-care in the now is how we take care of future-us) is a great step.

This may come in the form of:

• Affirmations

• A note kept in a visible place

• Journaling about your core values and hopes for yourself

The more it's reinforced, the stronger that connection will be.

I'd be remiss not to mention that this is a huge part of the coaching process!

It can be life-changing to have someone in your corner to bounce ideas off of, and for the gentle nudges to keep stretching that comfort zone in the name of future-you.