Now What?

Hi, I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and this week I was ironically talking to my coach about more or less the same thing one of my clients was discussing with me.

My client and I have a few things in common.  After a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, we have adopted a lifestyle of no sugar, flour, or processed foods.  We are each at our goal bodies, and this lifestyle feels automatic for us. 

Granted my automaticity kicked in well over two years ago and hers is relatively new, but  my point is no matter how long you have been in maintenance we still ask ourselves the same question: 

Now what? What are we going to create? What are we going to do or be?  What is next?

On the one hand, the straightforward answer is no more than merely sinking into the process and doing what you did, perhaps with a few changes but following your winning strategy.  And there is nowhere to go.  Your day to day practice that got you to maintenance is all there is.  Pretty Zen, right?  Ha!

Some days are a struggle.  Some days are a joy.  Some days feel blah or boring. SO, strap in, keep your arms inside the vehicle, and enjoy the ride!

However,  on a deeper level, we want to know what to do with the extra time and energy we inevitably have.  Right, it takes a lot of psychic energy to have an ongoing problem you are going to solve someday in the future.  And then when you finally do.  Wow!  What do you do with that extra time and energy?  If you are finally eating clean or working out regularly, you will not only have extra brain space per se; you will have more physical energy too.  You will be bursting with energy! 

Then you will ask yourself and discuss with your coach, now what?  And if something does not spring to mind like oh goodie, I finally have the time to learn the cello, or Italian or finish writing my novel; no one can answer that for you, not even your coach.

All you can do is sit, meditate, pray, journal, or whatever process you use to listen and let your mind wander and dream.  Your sky’s the limit. But we all have to be patient loving and kind to ourselves throughout this process.   Change is hard, and unknowns can be even more challenging.

And I must remind myself and my clients don’t freak out if nothing appears right away to fill the space.  You certainly do not want to fall back into the false comfort of the same old problem.  

In sum, the answer to now what is a combo of continuing your process and routine that bought you your success in addition to the sometimes exciting, sometimes scary ongoing process of staying open and curious about what your next right step is.  It does not matter if you are two years into living your lifestyle or a newbie, you’ll keep asking the same questions, and your answers will continue to evolve. 

Welcome to the new healthier version of you! 😊

I’m Liz Moser, a Mayo Clinic and National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, and thank you for reading this week’s blog.

Bye for now and be well, Liz