How to evolve as a person
What does it mean to you… when you hear the word evolve?
Not as a human, a race, or as a society. But you.
When pondering this, along with other big questions in life, I think of how to evolve as a person, is a commitment to life long learning, embracing change and a willingness to making improvements to who I am and where I want to go.
To evolve is to abandon old habits and adopt new ones that, we hope, will help a person experience a physical, emotional or mindset transformation for the better.
Change only happens when you make the change, not before
People are always waiting for something to happen before they change their lives. But they have it backward; when you change your life, big things are more likely to happen – Jesse Itzler
Earlier this year, I set out on my own personal journey to transform and evolve. In my case, this has been centred around improving my health & wellbeing, as well as finding a new direction in my life to give me true ‘work life’ balance. I’m sick of paying lip service to the things I’ve been aspiring to be. It’s time to get real and get on with it.
My physical and mindset transformation
One morning the penny dropped. Midlife was upon me. And with midlife came changes in my mood, outlook on life, focus and also health. Unfortunately the adage of the middle age spread rang true in my case; for the past decade I’ve really struggled to keep the weight off and feel strong and healthy.
Ah, but it was a gradual and sneaky change. I’m one of those people who has religiously tracked their weight. I knew, that despite my sporadic dieting and fitness efforts, I was consistently gaining 1-2kgs every year for the past ten years. The onset of midlife definitely had a negative impact in the weight loss and belly fat department, not to mention an overall lack of energy, fatigue, breathlessness, hot flushes, loss of focus and an increased obsession with sugar and chocolate, all of which I was struggling, quite unsuccessfully, to get under control.
You name a diet, I’d tried it. Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Atkins Diet, no carbs, no sugar, cabbage soup diet, protein shakes and meal replacements, Garcinia Cambogia, Slimming Tea and other supposed appetite suppressants. I had my most previous success with Optifast some years ago where I managed to ‘white knuckle’ a 15 kg weight loss. Then as soon as I resumed a normal eating pattern, I put the weight back on. The Optifast shakes helped me lose the weight, but I didn’t learn healthy eating through the process.
Over the past two years my son has had a big lifestyle change and swears by the Keto lifestyle. He has had huge success with it. Whilst my son didn’t have weight to lose, he has seen a huge improvement in muscle tone, strength and stamina. His skin and eyes are brighter and he has energy to burn along with better mental focus and clarity. As I’m clearly a carb lover from way back, I thought his diet seemed quite extreme; literally no sugar, no fruit, no carbs… and loads of ‘good’ oils and fat, there seems to be so many rules to keep his body in Ketosis.
What many people fail to realise about doing a full keto diet, is that it takes weeks to get properly into ketosis through a strict eating regime, and something as simple as drinking a glass of wine can knock you back out of ketosis.
As an observer looking in, I admired his success and stick-ability, but I wasn’t sure the keto way was something I wanted to sign up for.
But when a friend introduced me to ketones, I thought, maybe, just maybe, I might be able to enjoy some ketosis related health benefits, without having to take on an extreme form eating regime (or completely cutting the odd treat from my vocabulary).
With a renewed commitment to a healthier and happier me, I started a Facebook Page to document my progress and hold my efforts accountable.
That was mid January 2019. It’s now April (fourteen weeks in) and I have more energy, fewer cravings and I’ve lost thirteen kilograms!
Drinking ketones every day has really cut the cravings and I’ve managed to make some big changes to what I’m eating and my relationship to food. Food is no longer the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing at night. I’m not obsessing about sugary treats. It’s been a huge mind shift and the results have shown in the dramatic fat loss and on the scales.
How do you know when you’ve experienced a transformation at a personal level?
I stumbled across a great article online titled 20 signs you’ve evolved as a person.” This paragraph jumped out at me:
Becoming evolved is a process that begins with a conscious awakening. After the awakening, you can no longer go back to the person you once were. As you dive deeper into your personal growth, you’ll see evidences that you evolved and changed.
I don’t ever want to go back. Every day is a gift and around every corner there’s a lesson to be learned and an adventure to be had. The best part of all about being a healthier version of me, is that I now have the energy and mindset to embrace and enjoy those adventures.
Live life in full colour and strive to be the best version of yourself.
What does it mean to you to evolve? Leave me a comment below, I’d love you to share your story.
Wow, a guy I work with swears by this product. He just started developing a healthier lifestyle and has since not only started using the product regularly, but is now marketing it to others. Judging from the changes in his body (and he was quite overweight), I can tell that Ketones is a more than legit product. He hands out samples but I haven’t had the opportunity to try these just yet, but now that I’ve seen a second opinion here at your site, it’s about time I take this for a test drive.
Hi Todd… yes do it.
I have five and ten day sample packs here for my customers and it’s a great way to taste the different flavours and see if the product is something you want to continue with. As mentioned in this post, I’ve lost about 13kgs now and I’ve never felt better.
The weirdest thing has happened though. Even though now the actual weight loss on the scales has slowed, I’m still losing centimeters on my body.
Two weeks ago I went through my jeans and managed to squeeze into a pair I hadn’t worn for years. There was also another pair of jeans that I could only just get on, but they were very tight around the waist. I put that pair aside and thought oh well, they can go to the op shop. But then, amazingly today – I was running late for a meeting, and grabbed the first pair of jeans out of my drawer, the ones that didn’t quite fit, and they did!!
This just proved to me, that what I’m doing is working and the best thing about it is that it’s sustainable in the long term because I’m not relying on protein shakes, potions and pills… I’m just making better food choices, drinking my ketones and eating appropriate portions. Win win all round.
Thanks for sharing and I wish you the same success that I’ve had using ketones. Here’s a link to Pruvit Keto OS Nat – this is the product I’ve used with great results – just in case you’d like to order it online.
Best wishes, Karen
In my honest opinion, you evolve when you decide to take action outside of your comfort zone. You have to do things that you do not want to do to see the change and progress. Us human, our brains are wired to do things that we are comfortable and safe but we often hate the feelings later where do not see the progress in our lives. For example, i have this nice jobs with benefits but there is start up company that will give me grow in the workforce. You see where I am going at? I love this motivation coach her name is Mel Robbins, reading her 5 second rule book has changed my life. It goes for every aspects. Diet, relationship, and work. Practice makes progress not perfect 🙂
Yes, yes and yes!!! You have hit the nail on it’s goddamn head!
Twice, no three times, in my life I have made deliberate career moves to either a riskier proposition or a lower paid job, which has completely pushed me out of my comfort zone. And you know what, those jobs were the ones where I experienced the most professional development and personal growth.
Firstly I realised that I could live within a smaller budget, and secondly, in all scenarios, those calculated risks paid off and opened the door to bigger opportunities and a better long term outcome.
Growth definitely comes when we’re prepared to step outside our comfortable.
Thanks so much for sharing! Best wishes, Karen
Thank you for this awesome post. I love reading about the transformation experiences of others, as I am curious and write and live with the same mentalities as these. I loved the quotes at the end and I felt that they really added to the reading experience of this article. Yours was a pleasure to read; thank you again!
Ben
Hi Ben, thank you so much for checking out my article. I’ve actually been collating some feedback about successes my clients have had, so you’ll need to come back for a read. Now, THEY are inspirational. And helping my clients is the thing that makes me bounce out of bed each and every day. Best wishes, Karen
Very positive message here! The best way to evolve is both physically and mentally. Old, bad habits are best left in the past. Midlife in just a number! Great advice on diets and great use of quotes. Ketones look like a fantastic way to lose the weight. Keep up the good work, physically and mentally.
Hi there, thanks so much for your comments. Yes midlife is just a number, but I overheard one of our guests (we own a motel) at breakfast this morning. She was talking about a house they were about to build. I assume she was in her sixties, but a lively sixty at that. Anyway, her comment was “We just need to go for it, we only have another fifteen or so good years… I mean really good years, left in us and if we don’t get on with our dreams now, we never will.”
Wow, that really struck me. Time is finite. When we’re younger we sometimes forget that, but it’s becoming more of a reality now.
Thank you so much for your positive encouragement about the weight loss, I really appreciate it.
Cheers, Karen
Hi Karen! I like the way you convey your messages. I came to your site a couple of days ago and have come back because you truly deliver useful content and do it in a way that’s appealing.
I’ve got your point. I’ve been moved with your idea. And I started to look back at the specific points in life when I took a determination, and sticked to it! The improvements well deserved the sacrifice. And it enables us to embrace harder further evolutions. Thank you for this post.
Hi Henry, thank you so much for coming back for another visit! I’m so thrilled to think this post has resonated with you in a small way, and thanks so much for sharing your own approach to evolving and changing. Best wishes, Karen
Thanks for this post, I have also experienced some evolving in my personal life. After giving birth to four children I developed some flabby flesh all over. I hated it and set to work. I couldn’t afford to pay for gym sessions till I got the figure I wanted so I bought an aerobics DVD that had a diet plan. Went completely off sugar not even in my coffee. Today I have a nice and fit figure.
Congratulations Juliet, that’s so good to hear. The day before I embarked on this journey of self improvement, my husband and I were out for dinner (it was our anniversary) and there was a table of five sitting next to us. Three woman, two men. They would only have been about ten years or so older than us. When they stood up to leave, I noticed how stooped the woman looked, they were all quite heavy set, and seemed to struggle with mobility a bit. At that point, I looked down at my own puffy ankles and thought, wow, I’m on that path and if I don’t do something about my weight now, I’m going to be just like that. It was a real wake up call and that vision has stuck with me through this entire journey. The very next day I started on my ketone drink and I’ve never looked back. Well done you for making some changes to improve your health and fitness! Your family will thank you for it! Best wishes, Karen
When it comes to fat loss and control over your weight my most difficult obstacle has been getting my wife to support me. I have tried to lose weight by different methods but she being the best cook in the world really has made it hard. My wife has started diets with me but she always ends up giving in to temptations and once I feel that smell of good food coming out of the kitchen, forget about diet. You can have all the commitment of the world but if you don’t have support it is harder for you to keep committed.
I totally hear you on that dilemma! My husband is a wonderful cook and demonstrates his affection and love by dishing up huge plates of delicious goodness… unfortunately his idea of that is often carb laden and man sized portions! That has been a challenge with this whole journey, but fortunately ketones have helped my resolve this time around. Thanks so much for your comment, Cheers, Kaz
Hello Karen! I’ve got to say that I really love your website. Even as I sit here holding my sleeping son and about to fall asleep myself, I was curious to read more. Writing is definitely your niche and I’m sure you’re entertaining and helping people with the stories you share. I know I’ve got some work ahead of me now after looking at your site. Great job!
Best Regards,
Antoine
Hi Antoine, thank you so much for your lovely feedback. Feel free to send me a message via my contact page if there’s anything I can do to help you with your own blog… I’d love to hear from you and learn more. Best wishes, Karen