In today’s edition, we will discuss the importance of habits, how we use them to cope with stress, and finally a tool to creep into the realm of building new positive habits.

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Long ago in the times of the Caribbean when pirates scoured the seas, there was a man by the name of Captain Kidd. He was the most notorious pirate hunters of his time and his job was to find them and put and end to the terrible acts they were committing. After 3 years of hunting and trying to find these pirates Captain Kidd becomes a pirate of his own. He decided it would be easier to become what he was chasing than find them on the high seas. After 3 years of committing horrible acts of piracy, his ship was wrecked and his crew abandoned him to join other pirate ships, he was eventually arrested and tried for crimes of piracy. While he was one of many pirates we know to this date his story sparked the search and hunt for mass buried treasure.

There are tall tales of pirates who spent their entire lives committed to finding treasure like the kinds of Kidd and become engulfed in greed and lose sight of everything they may love in their lives. When they had enough of something it was never enough due to the endless search for the extreme treasure that was promised or they thought they would find. These are tales and fables of stories told from generation to generation. Some very true but mostly embellished tales said to spook children or keep masses in order; otherwise, pirates may come and steal your riches. Tales told to give power to governments and have people give up their riches in fear of it being stolen in the darkness of night. I believe it is high time that we give up on the search for this endless treasure we think or expect to find at the end of a challenge or detox. The real treasure is right in front of your eyes, buried inside of your habits.

The person that you are working to become is the same person who is working against you. Just as in the story of Captain Kidd, he was hired to stop pirates but he found it was more lucrative to become one.

We are not born to have bad habits like smoking, drinking, cussing in excess, or eating late-night junk food. All of these are habits that we have picked up over time by watching movies and seeing the same habits played out by family members or friends. things that we have picked up over the years of simply existing.

Every habit that we currently have to this date was created subconsciously through the habits that we have seen work for others. These habits can also be called coping mechanisms. They are simply something that we do to decrease a type of stress in our lives. When we are stressed we usually do something whether we know it or not in an attempt to relieve this stress. Sometimes for me when I am stressed, I bite my lips and when I recognize I do this I stop it and get up and walk around. Each habit we have will correspond to the stress that we are experiencing. Biting my lip usually corresponds to the beginning of stress or small acute stress. When I am experiencing deep emotional stress it may lead to me wanting to eat unhealthy junk food or snacks.

The person that you are today physically is not the same person that you are mentally. At times our mental version of ourselves changes, like the winds over the ocean. One day is moving east to west, the next north to south with gusts coming in from the Southwest. The mental version of ourselves changes based on our environment and the influences around us via work, social media, religious gatherings and so much more. We read a quote, get motivated, and make a change overnight. The physical version of us is based on our habits. The things that we do on a daily basis that is on autopilot. The parts of us we do not need to think about they just happen unknowingly. The autopilot version or self-driving Tesla version of us, is the person who will be the one who gets us to our outcomes. The version that is constantly changing is not the one that needs the work. The one whose software is running the show is the one that needs an update. A lot of our software is outdated and we need to change to version 3.7.2a and we’re stuck in version 2.5 from 2014.

In the coming weeks, we will continue to break down habits more deeply and how you can adjust them to put new changes on autopilot. For now, we need to focus on doing something small to get started on changing the autopilot version of self. I want you to think of one small change you can make. When you consider the change or habit you want to address, you want to add it to something that you already do currently. So instead of saying I want to begin going to the gym 5 days a week and you haven’t been to the gym in 2 years. You may start by saying when I go to work instead of taking the elevator 2 floors, I am just going to start taking the stairs. We tend to want to move too fast into things and it’s overwhelming. Start small and prove to yourself that you can make changes and they’re so subtle the subconscious can easily accept this change rather than the big change of now going to the gym 5 days a week. For me, my change was making my bed. it’s a simple process but now after 2 months I do it like clockwork, and it helps me in so many ways. If walking the stairs seems too much, start drinking a glass of water every morning, you change your coffee order slightly to something with less sugar. Instead of getting a glazed blueberry muffin at the bagel shop, get the gluten-free version with no glaze instead. Small changes don’t just add up, they compound.

Wellness Challenge Of The Week

Find a small habit that you can add to your morning routine; the smaller the better. You can promise yourself that you will drink 16oz of water before work. This may seem meaningless but you have no idea how little water people drink on a daily basis. Thats it! you don’t have to do anything crazy just build small wins within yourself by doing something very very small and over time the small wins add up as we dive deeper into changing the autopilot version of self.

Thank you for your support on the very first article of this publication. There will be many changes and additions forthcoming as we grow. I do truly appreciate your support and I pray that these bless you and help you along your wellness journey!

-Message from the Author

Stephen Michael