This is a concept that Lean Eating introduced a few weeks ago but I hadn’t brought up because it took me awhile to wrap my head around it enough to understand it. I got it on the surface, but the ability to really internalize it eluded me.
So – difficult-easy and difficult-difficult. Generally speaking, these refer to things that are all hard, but in the realm of hard, go from easy to difficult.
Difficult-easy is something that’s hard to do, but I personally find easy or it’s part of the same old routine. For example, the workouts are difficult-easy for me — I still have to schedule it, get it done, sweat it out, but for me this is something that doesn’t require a lot of effort. It’s something I’ve done for a long time and so I don’t even have to think about it, I just do it and there’s little resistance to getting it done.
(I talk about resistance a lot, don’t I?)
Difficult-difficult for me would be ditching my Diet Pepsi. It’s not only hard to give up something, but for me, giving up Diet Pepsi might make me cry (for a little while, at least). It’s something I don’t want to do, even though I know it’s probably the best things for me.
But, there’s more to it than just that. Difficult-easy is the same old thing. It’s not something that grows you because it’s familiar territory. Sure, maybe you’re working hard and need to push through, but you’ve been there before and the pain is one you’ve had before.
On the other hand, difficult-difficult is that thing that pushes you out of your comfort zone. One of those things that makes you feel uneasy and anxious, and really causes you to grow and experience new things, despite initial resistance. It’s that thing you’re scared of doing because you’ve never done it before.
And while I haven’t specifically tagged things as difficult-difficult for me, I’ve certainly mentioned them: being told to get the bad foods out of the house, being told to limit carbs (not even give them up, just start making better choices), and other things along these lines. And I’ve noticed a trend: I dislike it when someone (anyone!) tells me what to do (notice all the “being told” difficult-difficult things?). There’s a part of me that doesn’t want to be bossed around, ya know? It’s a knee-jerk reaction that I need to be more mindful about, I suppose.
I know that I need to be open to new nutritional guidelines. Again – and again – I mention how what I was doing wasn’t working, especially long term, so I need to try different methods, even though my initial reaction is “hell, no!”. You know, give myself a chance to develop that new lifestyle that I keep yapping about.
And anyway – I’m actually paying these people to tell me what to do. So, duh. Listen to them, Laura. Either that or I need to start paying myself $99/month…
