Dealing with it?

This hurts. It’s uncomfortable, painful, frustrating, tiresome, cumbersome, (very) expensive, embarrassing, comical and time consuming. So why put yourself through it?

Some things just need doing. We all have things that are not working that great for us, especially a we get older and realise that Father Christmas is not going to deliver everything we want on the 25th. Weight problems, financial problems, mental issues and job concerns are big problems for a lot of adults in the Western world but fixing these things and making changes that will last a lifetime does not come in a quick-fix kit.

If you want to lose weight then it’s going to take a whole lifestyle change to do it. It will take real effort to change the habits, it will be hard work, often miserable and take discipline. No-one wants to get up from the couch and run 20km!

If your finances are in a mess you will have to give up the habits you have and accept you are going to have some hard times for a while- who wants to put that money towards the debt rather than something shiny and fun?

We all whine about something and wish things were different but if you keep doing the same thing then you get the same results right? So change.

But who likes change??!

Change involves pain, in some cases physical, like these stupid things on my teeth, or it might be financial pain- you are going to have to pay to fix it! Or it might be emotional pain; divorce or changing your diet habits take a big mental shift. Often it is all 3. It is going to be really hard work at first, and it will seem utterly pointless or hopeless a lot of the time. You will want to quit and throw in the towel, find a way to take the pain away, make it all not happen and think ‘stuff it’ it’s not that big a deal. Sticking it out is hard work and a lot of people are fearful of the change, the pain and even coping with the results when they do start to show scare people. Heaps of people are so scared of change that even when they do start to see results they actually choose to go back to their old habits because they have to leave their comfort zone and that’s too much for others around them to accept.

So I’m doing this because I want to change. I’ve been bitching about my back and neck pain for years so i’m fixing it. So i’m not going to whine anymore and i’m going to fix it.

It’s actually that simple. It you like the sound of your own voice and love being a drama queen about your problems, go ahead stick with what you are doing but if you actually want to fix things then man-up/suck it up and put up with the hard bits and one day it it will become so easy that you won’t even notice.

I’m loving using the Forums for people with braces, laughing at the great videos on youtube from those with braces and the before and after pics of those who post. It keeps me realising that things will be easier eventually, heaps of people are in the same situation, and what i’m doing to myself is still a good thing and worth doing.

When the Spacers were in I found them more irritating than the metal appliance and I realised that it was because of my attitude. The spacers were always a short term fix, in my mouth for a defined length of time and there was a date already set aside to have them removed. So they seemed to bug me more as I was counting the days down until they were out and I felt them every day and subconsciously knew I didn’t have to get used to them. Now the main appliance is in then I have a different focus. It hurts MUCH more, takes up much more space, wrecks my food intake, trashes my gums and makes me look like a psychopath as I can’t smile properly when my lips get stuck on the brackets but inside my head I still accept this more than the spacers. I know this is actually going to do something, it’s the part in the aeroplane when you are actually moving across the planet, and since there is no actual end date then I know that I have no choice but to accept my new reality and get my mouth around it and used to it.

Right now I hate it but I know somewhere deep ( 50′ under right now ) down in my soul that it will get better and I won’t even notice while i’m making the change!

For those who are in the same situation; I’ll let you know how long that takes!!