How Long Does Healing Take?

A month or so ago, Seth Godin commented on the concept of success and Malcolm Gladwell's book, The Outliers in his blog.

The main two points that he brought up are:
-> Where you're born and when you're born have an enormous amount to do with whether or not you're successful.
-> Becoming a superstar takes about 10,000 hours of hard work.

Even though that particular blog post dealt with the idea of extraordinary public recognition as success, what a great concept for people interested in becoming healthier, especially people ravaged by chronic disease. It's an especially interesting concept for me at the Breakfast Lab.

People in the alternative health world are very familiar with a "healing crisis" or a "plateau" -- this is where most people get discouraged and quit. Making a recovery through food and lifestyle changes is hard work. What does it take to truly recover? Is it an open mind? Curiosity? Patience? Hours of hard work? Support from family and close friends?

Knowing that it doesn't take a day, what would it take you now to become a healthy superstar? Are you willing to put in 10,000 hours and push through the self-doubt?

Here's a question out there for people in the blogosphere: how many hours have you put into becoming healthy? How much support have you had? And what enables you to go on?

Since I believe in small steps, one in front of the other, here are some suggestions of small changes that you might want to add to your morning routine to start on the path to a healthier you:

# Drink tea instead of coffee

# Eat 3 carrots before you have your morning pastry

# Switch from white to whole grain bread

# Use fresh fruit instead of processed jelly on your peanut butter & jelly sandwich

# Practice drinking a glass of water and waiting for 3 minutes before eating that thing you know you 'shouldn't have'

# Chew your food, 30-50 times a bite. Take the time to really enjoy it and revel in the flavor.

Seth Godin's post

Malcolm Gladwell's book the Outliers: Story of Success