I strive to be a critical thinker. To really dissect a problem or challenge and to find out what the root cause may be and start formulating a plan of action. But at what point does this contemplation become rumination? At what point am I causing more problems and not solutions?
So often I am met with the questions from clients about their challenges in nutritional well being. They spend hours thinking about why they continue to struggle. They want to spend hours examining their potential “why” (I will save you my thoughts on that mess). And yet nothing changes. Perhaps, it’s because nothing changes.
Contemplating our daily activities and how we can improve on them is an important step in growth. But it can be an illusory distraction from what is most important. It’s only a step. You see, it’s not enough to want to change, you will have to enact steps to facilitate it. You might have to cut down or cut out alcohol. You might have to alter your social calendar. You might have to stop placating every individual member of your home’s personal food orders. You might have to make sacrifices. Because it doesn’t matter how bad you say you want something if you never actually prove it. I know, I’m a monster.
So the next time you are sitting around ruminating about whether you could do something better or why you can’t seem to get what you say you want, I want you to ask yourself this:
“Am I just using contemplation as a substitute for action?”
TLDR: Stop thinking, start doing.
