Self Care Monday-If then

Something I realized about myself recently was I'm a big If X happens THEN Y...

I'm not sure where this came from or why I started thinking this way. Or even when or how I noticed it. But once I did notice it, it really annoyed me. It's like being given the choice of either or. Those memes that go around, "You can only pick one, would you pick the beach or the mountains?"

Why do I have to choose? Why can't I enjoy both? I do enjoy both. Why do I have to choose?

Why do I constantly think Oh, if X happens then I can finally do Y. I mean sure in terms of a nice jackpot lottery win, I can finally travel the world in a 🛥 private yacht🛥 . Actually, no, I get horribly seasick. But traveling the world sounds amazing!

Believing that I can only do Y if and only if X happens is so limiting and I don't want to limit myself. But can I use it to motivate myself? 

This article from Psychology Today made a good point. Sure, it's about exercise, (*bold is me*) but:

Amazingly, you are two to three times more likely to succeed if you use an if-then plan than if you don't. In one study, 91 percent of people who used an if-then plan stuck to an exercise program, versus 39 percent of non-planners. Peter Gollwitzer, the NYU psychologist who first articulated the power of if-then planning, recently reviewed results from 94 studies that used the technique and found significantly higher success rates for just about every goal you can think of, from using public transportation more frequently to avoiding stereotypical and prejudicial thoughts.

 

 So here's me, trying to think of a good way to implement the if X then Y to not limit myself but to expand myself. And if I want to do Y before X happens, then why shouldn't I?