Radical Change

If you ever tried to break a bad habit, you'd notice that you can't simply "wean" yourself off that habit. You could wean yourself ON a new habit, but you can't wean yourself off it. With breaking a habit, it's all or nothing: either you quit altogether or you keep practicing that habit.

If you've been struggling with losing weight, then gaining it, and losing it again, then you know that the idea of "weaning" doesn't work. Having a "little bit of" this, that, and the other doesn't help you break the bad habit of drinking too much alcohol and eating too many doughnuts. For many of us, just having one is enough to set us back. You put in a lot of hard work into losing weight, but once you eat that one, tiny piece of candy, that was all it took to wreck everything. 

True, lasting change sometimes take radical action. Sometimes, you just have to cut something out completely. Sometimes, you just have to burn that bridge. Sometimes, you just have to say "Enough is enough!" 

Some of you might be familiar with a passage in the Bible about cutting off parts of your body if you're serious about getting to heaven. Jesus told his disciples that if your hand, foot, eye, etc., causes you to sin, then cut it off and toss it away, because it's better to get into heaven disabled than to go to hell with all your body parts. Obviously, cutting off a hand or foot is not going to keep you from doing bad things, but the point was that if someone was serious about heaven, they would make radical changes in their lives.

We are accustomed to making our cake and eating it, too. We don't like the idea of making any radical sacrifices. We want one thing, but we're not willing to make serious changes to get it. We want this body, go to this place, do this, that, and the other, but we don't want to make any radical changes. 

If you wanted to spend more time with your children, would you be willing to leave your career for it?

If you wanted to lose weight, would you be willing to permanently abstain from alcohol?

If you want to have more peace in your life, would you be willing to get rid of certain people in your life?

Having goals come with sacrifices, and those sacrifices might be radical. If you haven't reached your goal yet, then your sacrifices haven't been radical enough. If you've been struggling with a certain addiction for years, then you haven't made a radical change. If after 20 years you're still going through the same ol' same ol', then it's time to make some radical changes.

Here's the good news about radical changes: they work! Making those changes aren't necessarily easy, but they work. The reason they work is because they would open your eyes to what you COULD be, where you COULD go, how life COULD be lived. You would finally see the other side of the picture and understand that you don't have to struggle with your problems any longer. You could finally be free to accomplish whatever you want to, but you FIRST must make that radical change.

Listen, I know what it's like to struggle with something for YEARS. This struggle keeps you in a prison and limits how you could live your life. The only thing that is really keeping you in this prison is...you. If you want to be free, then you need to make some radical changes in your life.

After you make some serious sacrifices, it would feel good at first, and then later you start regretting it. Don't turn back! Remember the feeling you had when you finally felt free, and remember how badly you felt when you were trapped in your prison. Do you want to feel badly again? Do you want to be slumped over your couch feeling sorry for yourself? Do you want to hit that bottle while listening to heart-break songs? Do you want to start snorting that coke and feel like dirt afterwards? Or do you want to feel as if a weight has been lifted off your shoulders? If you want that feeling, then you know what you need to do -- and weaning yourself off is not the answer.

If you want to know what a radical change looks like, try having your doctor tell you that you have a 98-percent chance of getting brain cancer unless you start changing your life. After hearing those words, you'd go straight home and throw out all the foods that are typically considered unhealthy. You'd join a gym, buy health magazines, quit smoking, quit alcohol, and participate in some marathons. That's radical. 

Try having your college advisor tell you that if you don't maintain a 3.7 GPA, you would lose your scholarship. You would have to start taking out loans to pay $50,000 a year for college. You'd stop going to all those college parties and spend most of your time in the library. That's radical.

Try having a police officer pull you over and tell you that if you get one more speeding ticket, your license would be suspended -- and you work as a delivery driver. No license, no job, no income. You'll be traveling 35 mph everywhere you drive and you'd avoid the highway so that you won't be tempted to speed. That's radical!

Making a radical change in itself isn't hard. The hard part is simply deciding to do it. If you're tired of being tired, if you're sick of being sick, and if you're disgusted with feeling disgusting, then it's time to make a radical change. Don't ease your way through. Don't wean yourself off. Don't try to take things slowly. Just do it! It's all or nothing. If you want freedom, then make a run for it and don't look back.