#34 Becoming the best version of you

This life we're all in is interesting isn't it? Filled with ups and downs, joys and pain. Times we want to embrace what's in front of us and times we want to run from it... 

I'm grateful that life has thrown some doozies in my path. The struggles and pains that I've experienced have challenged me to become a better version of me. I still have LOTS of room for improvement- it can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming with all the things I want to improve. 

I've come across so many strategies that have helped me to improve over the years. Some I only use for a little while and some are tools have well worn handles.

Recently, I picked up a new tool while I was listening to a Brene Brown podcast interview with James Clear- author of Atomic Habits. Here's a link to the interview https://brenebrown.com/podcast/atomic-habits-part-1-of-2/

His humility and humor drew me in. He shared a bunch of things that resonated with me about the idea of adding new habits and changing ones we don't want anymore. One of the things that has stuck with me is the concept of how powerful our beliefs about ourselves can be in shaping our actions- our habits. If we can change our beliefs, we'll have way more success in adopting new habits that stick. 

He talks about the idea that often we try to make changes by setting goals to achieve something- like "I'm going to ride 5 days a week this month" OR "I'm going to lose 10 pounds". Now- these can be POWERFUL tools to cause temporary changes and have the potential to lead to permanent change. 

The downside of setting goals that lead to an achievement is that once the achievement is accomplished, sometimes we revert to the old habits that caused us to set the goal to begin with- we stop riding our horses regularly OR we put the weight back on...

He proposes the idea that it's our beliefs that need to change. If we say, "I need/want to ride more"- it's implied that we believe we aren't riding enough- we believe we're the type of person that doesn't ride much. But if we make a small change in wording and say, "I'm the type of person that rides every day." It changes the belief behind the words- now it's implied that you believe you ride often- you're a rider.  

I've been using this idea daily in my own horsemanship. Many of you know that the past year and some change have brought LOTS of changes to my career path and my horsemanship. Injuries and career shifts have changed my daily habits. I spend a lot more time hanging out with my horses- which has been awesome- but putting in time playing, riding, and progressing my own horsemanship has not been as regular as I'd like. There was a time- not so long ago- where it felt really strange for more than a day to go by without me riding or playing with one of my horses. Now, it's easy for 5 days to a week to go by and I haven't ridden or had a ground session and it doesn't feel weird anymore. Now, I'm definitely not saying that there's a certain amount of time that everyone should be devoting to their horsemanship- it's so individual- we're each on our own journey. But for me, I don't want it to feel comfortable for that much time to go by without practicing and improving. 

So... for the past few weeks (minus the time I was traveling) I've been inserting the phrase "I'm the kind of person that plays with my horses every day." It's made a huge change- I'm back to regularly riding/playing with my horses- even on days that I don't feel like it, "I'm the kind of person that plays with my horses every day." I might just do 5 minutes in the pasture- it doesn't need to be much. Now, the evidence is building that what I'm saying to myself in that phrase is true, I'm starting to believe it again and it feels right. 

If you're interested in making a change in your horsemanship habits OR habits in other areas of your life, have a listen to the podcast or if you're a reader, check out James's book. I think you'll find a ton of ideas to help you.

This journey we're all on is an interesting one. I'm sure glad you're on it with me!