Our bodies/minds are constantly changing; from the moment we are born we are developing behaviors, thought patterns, and ways of making sense of the world. This adaptation is a very complex process, but if I were to attempt to sum it up in one sentence I would say, “Your whole being is trying, constantly, to survive well in the environment that you are most often in.” This is what adaptation is, it’s your body’s incredible way of ensuring, “I will survive this.”
This process of adaptation can be broken up into 3 interacting parts. (These three parts are not formulaic, rather they are all relationally influential.)
1. Environment. (Where you spend your time)
2. Behaviors.(What you do)
3. Adaptation of Self. (Where you spend your time, and what you spend doing with it fundamentally changes who you are)
4. New Behavior. (The adaption influencing your actions)
Take a moment to consider this example: I work in a gym, a place dedicated to performing certain behaviors for a particular adaptation of the self. And over a long period of time, you can completely transform your body. This is the adaptation process, it is how we change. (It could be helpful to think of physical adaptation as the body’s “sense making” tool. If the mind can change how it thinks, to better see the world around it, the body can change the way it looks to better accommodate the world it is moving in.)
Why is this important?
The first and foremost reason this is a pertinent conversation is because we can sometimes think we are only changing when we want to. I don’t think that is accurate in the slightest; we are always changing. Because we are always somewhere, doing something, and using our environment and behavior to better adapt to the world around us.
The second reason this conversation matters is because it teaches us how to open ourselves up to long term change. It teaches us that if we want to become healthier people we will have to spend time in a new place, doing a new behavior, and for a long period of time. It is also crucially important because you cannot commoditize long term change, there isn’t a product that is going to do the work of true adaptation. The only way we change is that we set our mind to surrounding ourselves with a novel environment, commit to engaging in new behaviors, and do it for a long period of time.
Where we get stuck
Time is our most valuable asset, and it’s also what can be the most disheartening in someone’s health journey. We don’t understand what takes so long. This is one of the most common stories I hear within my line of work. “I get really motivated then fall off, and I do that over and over again. I need help being consistent.” What exactly is going on here?
However old you are, it has taken you your entire life to become the person you are now. Every single second you have been alive, it has been forming you and shaping you. So, if you are attempting to change significantly, you are going up against a long history of unsupportive behavior. That’s okay, it is where everyone starts. What I have continually failed on and had to learn repeatedly is that being honest with yourself means not overwhelming yourself with stress to change instantaneously. We cannot live in a particular set of habits, thought patterns, and environments for 10-15 years and expect to be completely different in six months. The body adapts slowly over time, so when we are attempting to make big changes, we have to take that into account.
Lee Ramsey has a passion for fitness as a way to help people grow and change into more adaptable, capable and resilient versions of themselves. He is owner of Sanctify Fitness in Covington and a regular fitness columnist for the NKyTribune.