In Part 1 of 3 of this blog series we mentioned a chance encounter in a supermarket with a man who had reached the produce section and wanted to buy more salad vegetables, but was stymied once he was actually in the store at the point of purchase.
He almost walked away without any salad ingredients because he was still going through the stages of making an actual behavior change.
All he needed was a little encouragement, information & support in his decision making once he was right there in the store. Timing can make such a huge difference in life!
He’d been thinking about eating more vegetables as one of his New Year’s Resolutions for 2013, but hadn’t yet gone through all of the stages of readiness to really be fully prepared to follow through on such behavior change.
You may have heard of the “stages of readiness” for making actual behavior change based on the work of Prochaska & other colleagues. Prochaska, JO; Velicer, WF. The transtheoretical model of health behavior change. Am J Health Promot 1997 Sep–Oct;12(1):38–48.
The Stages of Readiness For Making Actual Behavior Change:
- Precontemplation of Behavior Change (Individuals might be saying “Do I really need to? Maybe I can’t? Maybe I won’t? I’m used to eating what I want and it hasn’t hurt me yet, so do I really have to make any behavior change?” At this stage many individuals are not yet convinced making change is needed or not yet convinced making behavior change is worth the effort. Individuals might explore the landscape to see what behavior change in terms of eating and/or fitness is really all about and what advantages or benefits it might hold; at this stage often someone might be under aware or unaware of the importance of how change for the better could positively impact their life)
- Contemplation of Behavior Change (Individuals might be saying “Maybe I Can? Maybe I will?” At this stage an individual considers the barriers and costs involved in making changes and compares them to the potential benefits of making small, sustainable change; at this stage no real commitment has yet been made to making any change)
- Preparation for Behavior Change (Individuals might be saying “OK, I Can; OK, I Will” At this stage of change a person decides that she or he intends to change and becomes serious about doing so. Sometimes a person will actually experiment with making a small change for a few days to see what it is really like to make a change in her or his lifestyle)
- Action of Behavior Change (Individuals might be saying “Wow, I’m Actually Doing It!” At this stage a person modifies some thing or things, which could include their own behavior, their environment, or engages in new experiences in order to make some sort of positive change in their lifestyle. This stage isn’t easy and typically involves both a commitment of energy and time. It is important to recognize that small successes can continue to build)
- Maintenance of Behavior Change (Individuals might be saying “I’ve been Doing It & I Want to Keep Doing It!” This stage typically involves continuing effort to prevent relapse. It involves appreciating and understanding what reinforcements can help to sustain change over time).
- Identification of Behavior Change (Individuals might be saying “Golly gee–I wasn’t expecting that problem to surface or resurface” or “I lapsed back into my old habit(s)” It can be challenging to deal with new unexpected problems, which can either present new Opportunities for Positive Change +/or Dealing with Relapse into former habit(s), which could result in likely needing to recycle through the stages of readiness once again.
If you are serious about engaging in behavior change this year, then check out our next blog post Part 3 of 3 in this series for some key pointers to keep in mind. Also note that we mentioned a little bit about health coaching in Part 1 of 3 in this series.
We believe in your right of choice.
Really think through any potential changes you might want to consider embracing in 2013–consider them quite seriously before verbalizing any New Year’s Resolutions. Build upon your past successes, even if that means making a list of those to remind yourself of the good things you have done.
There is a free resource available through the efforts of the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (think Dell Computers) called A Year of Being Well (Messages from Families on Living Healthier Lives) with an accompanying Discussion Guide that you can download and perhaps share with a group of friends if you would like to help support others and let them help support you in making 2013 one of your best years ever! After all, you can be a catalyst for change in the lives of others, too.
Opportunities for making small changes in life can occur at any time on any day. “A Year of Being Well” is a simple downloadable pdf with some family stories focusing on how anyone can implement small changes and have those steps add up in improving the quality of their lives.
The families cited didn’t let socioeconomic challenges prevent them from reaching goals that were truly important to them, but rather they shared their story of how they made changes in spite of obstacles in their way. Each of them found their “inner hero” just as you can, too.
If you ultimately decide to embrace behavior change this New Year 2013, then don’t hesitate to seek out the level of information and personal support you need. If you decide to seek out professional support, look for staff that have values in line with your own.
We know if you ask your family & friends that they’ll tell you–you really are worth it and they want you to be as well as you can be, but ultimately any choices you make have to be your’s and not their’s.
Talk to your doctor, get the OK to do what is felt to be reasonable for you by both you and your health professional(s), and go for it!
Don’t just keep talking around changing any food and nutrition behavior(s)–make 2013 the year you actually do it!
P.S. Feel free to check out a classic guest blog post on Success Via Simple Small Steps for some ideas on how implementing small, reasonable changes in succession over time can lead to lasting success! Also still available is the blog post entitled Do You Know How to Build a Better Grocery Shopping List? as well as Provide a Better Fuel Supply for Your Body.