Day Twelve: Excitement

Image from dailymail.co.uk

Thanks to a few different sources and also from my own experience, I have come to the conclusion that excitement is the key to achieving anything you want to achieve.  I believe becoming excited about something is the fuel that will enable you to make positive and lasting changes to reach your goal no matter what that goal is.

For example, when I created my minimal wardrobe, I’d backed off so many times because it just looked too hard to do and my wardrobe didn't seem that bad anyway (my thoughts).  Reading up on others Project 333 experiences (on Day Three of Thirty Chic Days) made me excited about doing that for myself and I practically launched my body through the wardrobe doors so eager was I to get started.

That’s when I realised I could do this with anything.  And the great thing is, you don’t need to be excited already or have someone else make you excited – you can create your own excitement literally from thin air!  Talking something up and talking positively about it will make you happy to be doing it and the rest will follow.

Often I read Amazon reviews of a book I’ve enjoyed and I will only read the five-star reviews because who wants to read about people moaning.  Especially if I love the book I don’t want others negative views to cloud my own.  After reading five-star reviews I actually love the book more than I already did and I end up re-reading it.  I've done this a lot.  So why not do my own five-star reviews for anything in my life?

I’ve been really ‘not energetic’ with exercise for a while now.  I want to get back into my daily walks for fitness and also sunshine exposure as per yesterday’s post.  Instead of looking at it as something that I should do (and therefore do not do it) I am now excited to be strolling the streets and enjoying late Autumn with the trees a blaze of beautiful colour simply because I reframed it in my mind.

Instead of feeling obligated and resisting going for a daily walk, I'm telling myself:

- It will be fun and I feel excited to be going for a neighbourhood walk

- I will be très chicly dressed in my daily outfit with appropriate shoes and some big sunglasses

- I will be French in my mind as I ‘take the air’

- I will enjoy myself and feel my body being tall and strong as I stroll along

- My body will thank me  - my muscles, my blood-flow, my lungs, they will all be thrilled

When you become excited about something it is not a chore to carry through with a promise to yourself.  You want to do it!  Like most of us, I don’t like being told what to do, whether it’s by someone else or myself.  Making myself want to do something is the answer.

Creating excitement around an area you want to improve on really does put butterflies in your stomach.  It’s kind of like falling in love with someone new but you don’t have to wait for that to happen (and you won’t want to if you are in a happy relationship!).  Fall in love instead with yourself and your exciting ‘new’ plans.

If you have some self-improvements things in the back of your mind that you’ve tried and failed at before, dig one out and think of all the exciting ways (write them down!) you could achieve that and how you are going to feel afterwards (amazing, obviously).

One thing that always inspires me to make positive changes in my life is my love affair with Paris and France, and any little reminder always helps me remember my initial excitement around the world of French Chic and how I want to be the chicest and best version of myself.

Reading through Michelle’s Italiagal blog recently took me right back to my Paris trip (too long ago – thirteen years!) and made me fall for Paris all over again, and remember that bubbly feeling you get when you’ve stumbled onto something new and wonderful.

‘Motivation is like food for the brain. You cannot get enough in one sitting. It needs continual and regular top ups.’ – Peter Davies

‘To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it’ – Mother Teresa

What lifestyle change would you like to reframe in an exciting way to make yourself want to do it?