Don't Let Your Brain Believe You've Become A Non-Doer

​The brain treats familiarity as safety. And the brain loves nothing more than safety.

When you stop doing something good for you, let's say exercise, that initially shows up as restlessness or guilt or unease. But if you keep NOT doing that thing, the discomfort fades. The brain recalibrates. And now, inaction feels normal, and restarting that thing feels like a threat.

Getting back to your broken routine can actually feel harder than when you first started it.

We often think of momentum as a good thing, but that works both ways. Action breeds action. But avoidance breeds more avoidance.

This is true of exercise. Relationships. Writing. Going to church.

Stopping behaviors actually starts to shift our identity. We go from "I'm a runner" to "I'm someone who used to run." The brain is deeply motivated to keep a consistent identity - the brain loathes change - so once "non-doer" becomes the self-image, becoming once again a doer feels like a psychological threat.

And here's the thing about stopping. When we run or write or engage in meaningful connections with other people, these activities usually provide delayed rewards. But when we stop, and replace them with substitute activities (snacking, drinking, scrolling, watching television), we start to get low-effort QUICK rewards. So now the brain isn't just used to stopping - it's being rewarded for it!!

Re-starting can be hard! But here's the thing. Once we know why it's hard, once we know the brain has really tricked us into believing we are no longer who we used to be, we can go about the fight of reclaiming who we used to be.

We can use the brain's trick against itself.

Because once you go back to doing the healthy thing you used to do, the brain will quickly adapt and once again feel best in the identity of a doer. The brain won't go there willingly, but the brain WILL go there.

Apologize to your brain today. Apologize for allowing it to believe you've become a non-doer.

Then go do!!!