In last week’s article, I discussed kaizen, or constant and never-ending improvement in your life. This week, I want to introduce another way to use this notion: getting used to things that make you uncomfortable.
We already do this naturally. Watch just about any person get into a cold ocean, lake, or pool, and you know exactly what I mean. First the feet go in, maybe up to about the knees. Then they stand there. After a while they drift in farther, perhaps up to about the thighs. Then another long pause. Little by little they get deeper and deeper in, until, finally, they are ready to swim. This is a slow, agonizing way to get in and have fun… it takes way too long. But it works.
It works because it overpowers the mind’s natural defenses, letting the body adjust along the way to the major change that’s about to occur.
If you’ve got the willpower to just do it in one splash, absolutely, do it! But most people don’t. Most people can’t get over the desire to avoid the sudden discomfort of cold water everywhere. Taking time, adapting over several minutes, provides a mechanism to let the mind and body adjust to the change.
The same technique works if you want to get used to living in a new climate. Let’s say you grew up somewhere cold and you’ve just moved to Phoenix. Instead of rushing out and being miserable pretending to have fun in super hot weather, how about adjusting the temperature in the house up one degree each day. Start with what you’re used to. Slowly, over the spring (or maybe over a couple sequential years), adjust a little each day or each week. Pretty soon you don’t notice that it’s 85 in the house instead of the 68 that you grew up with up north. After a couple months or a couple years you’re used to it. Soon you don’t notice the heat outside either.
The same process helps you adapt to new foods if you move or travel to a different part of the world. Start by eating things that are familiar (but a little different), and over time start incorporating more and more really different dishes. Soon you have adjusted.
Again, if you’ve got the willpower, cold turkey is the fastest way to make change. If you don’t have the willpower, though, cold turkey won’t stick; soon you’ll bounce back to old ways. Small changes over time overcome this weakness.
Any habit, whether it’s learning to improve yourself or learning to adapt to uncomfortable circumstances, can be achieved through kaizen. Make a small change, then another, then another. Let them add up.
In the news
- Why is this classified as an emergency? Fainting tops air emergency list
- So it’s not living here anymore, but does it still take Christmas vacation in Hawaii? Cholera moves to rural Zimbabwe
- I bet for this research, ‘cute baby’ was defined by women… perhaps if men defined it, women wouldn’t be able to pick the cutest: Women ‘have cute baby instinct’
Quote for the week
Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change. – Thomas Hardy
Healthy thoughts,
Jeff
