Will power is most often not enough.  And, often is super overrated.  It is discouraging when we rely too much on our will power to make any changes.   Willpower has been studied in the laboratory: How it gives people the strength to persevere, how they lose self-control as their willpower is depleted, how this mental energy is fueled by the glucose in the body’s bloodstream. What was discovered is that willpower, like a muscle, becomes fatigued from overuse but can also be strengthened over the long-term through exercise.  The conclusion was that improving willpower is the surest way to a better life.  What I can attest in my own trials and tribulations that my willpower muscle is fairly strong…but it was not so in the past.

As a professional dietitian and health coach, it has disheartened me to witness my clients struggles in achieving the happiness they want.  They place so much pressure on themselves to meet a goal that is most certainly achievable in the long-run, but not so much in the short-run — which is what we all expect.  We do not give ourselves enough credit that we are just human and changing any behavior or way of life actually takes time.  We did not argue as children when we were learning to walk or talk.  By all means our frustrations were visible to our parents and other adults around us, but we had no other choice but to keep trying.  Keep repeating the words our parents encouraged us to repeat.  Keep getting up after we fell down trying to walk into our parents arms.  Throughout our entire lives we have acquired our skills because we kept trying and kept practicing.  Seems, though, those life lessons have been long forgotten.  We live in a society based on the ‘now, now, now’ — things need to be quick, things need to be accessible, and things need to move quickly so we can quickly move to other things.

Slow down.

Why this diatribe at 6:45AM EST this morning?!  Well, after we hit the hay last night at 9 because we were soooooooooooooooo tired and worn out (from nothing but pure detox), my partner turned to me and said, “This is hard.”  He had not been feeling quite right in the head all day while I had some serious uncomfortable feelings in my gut (more on that later).  We chatted for a bit as I explained that what we were feeling was quite normal.  We had been drinking and eating through our days, weeks, and months without much regard.  And while I am quite proud of our overall grocery shopping skills and eating habits, obviously we had not been paying much attention.  When we decided to abstain from the non-nutritive over-consumption of sugar and alcohol, our body’s engines immediately begin burning fuel a different way — hence our withdrawal and feelings of ‘blah’.  All that said, what it made me think in my head was, “This is why people quit.”  When things get hard, esp. in how we act these days where people are just not mindful, it’s typical to just quit.  We then feel guilty because we feel our willpower just sucks.

It’s only Day 6.  Repeat after me: It’s only Day 6.  And, I am owning the way I feel.  I’m allowing my body to become accustomed to a change and that takes time.  While I want to exercise vigorously each day, I am game to just go for long walks with my dogs.  I’ll get to my wanted exercise regimen when I feel better.  This is why the detox is a month.  The first few days are quite easy, no?  Now it’s time to keep on truckin’ and stay on point through the next 5 to 10 days.  Remember your reasoning.  Let the mind games come and go without notice. Understand that willpower takes practice and as you move through more mindful activities, like a sugar detox each year, it will get stronger.

Right now give yourself a break.  And, don’t beat yourself up for whining.  Whine away.