Think Big but Gradual

Every year on my birthday I wake up expecting to feel different. Surely I should feel a little older, a bit more mature and I must have gained a wrinkle. And yet, when I look in the mirror I see the same person staring back at me; the person who has been staring at me for as long as I can remember.

I still laugh at the same jokes, I still make the same stupid mistakes and I still can’t survive a birthday without presents, cake, sweets and a jumping castle.

This morning I realized what the problem was. It is not on these celebratory days that we age, it’s the years in between that age us. We age when no one is watching and we do it without even noticing it.

Yesterday I sorted out my passport, all by myself, like a real grown up. Mommy didn’t even have to hold my hand. And this morning, I not only booked my driver’s license test and driving lessons but I also opened my own bank account; and all this before ten o’clock in the morning.

I have been slowly growing up with each passing day and it is only in hindsight that I realize just how much I have changed. Aging is a slow process and yet old age is cruel and sudden. 

Change therefore, is not immediate, but a lifelong decision. Therefore, if you’re trying to lose weight, don’t stop eating immediately on one Monday morning; slowly start making healthier decisions and cutting down on how much you eat. If you want to buy something, don’t spend a whole months pay and then wake up the next morning regretting it; rather save a smaller amount every month until your savings can afford it, if you still want it at this point then it’s worthwhile.

Gradually make changes in your life that will ultimately make you the type of person you want to be. No one will wake up one morning as a normal functional person in society and the next as a skinny, friendly, wealthy woman with perfect nails and a job that allows her to have a facial, mani and pedi once a week. Set goals, and achieve them; but don’t over burden yourself with ridiculous ideas as you will only be disappointed and disheartened.