2022: the year to stop being normal.
Come this time of year, this week in particular, and we are inundated with texts, images and motivational-wannabe interviews about "how to make next year the best ever", that "now is when your life is going to change and become what you want it to be". Even predictions based on the stars or the cards assure us that this or that will happen.
How tired are we of these messages? If you are like me, very! They seem to carry the hidden message that our future is determined and will be presented and gifted to us, put in front of us ready to be taken advantage of. The only thing we have to do is want it and wait for it to happen.
Books like "The Secret" seem to share this message, that you just have to believe hard enough for things to happen, that if the mind is strong enough, the World will change - as if the World has nothing else to do but to be waiting for us to move forward.
I don't like the idea and I refuse to accept it, for a very simple reason: it is a passive, defeatist and resigned vision.
It turns out that the real message of the book (of this and similar ones) is exactly the opposite: it is a push for action and non-conformism towards the past in order to change and actively influence the future. That if we focus on a goal, it will become real more quickly and easily. And the cherry on top of the cake is that there is a neurophysiological basis for this!
Our brain has a filter system that works 24/7 unconsciously, extremely effective at sorting through the stimuli - sounds, lights, smells, ... - that surround us so that we only pay attention to the really important information. Without knowing it, I'm sure you've already felt its action:
Have you ever been, distracted, in a room with the background noise of other people talking and that, in the midst of that distraction and noise, you could identify someone saying your name, bringing you back to reality? That's the effect of this filter, called the reticular activation system (RAS).
This system only lets "pass" into our consciousness stimuli that deserve our attention. Hearing our name is one of them, it is programmed into our "default settings". But we can upgrade, adjust and personalise them consciously.
Haveyou ever read an article about a topic that interests you - such as burnout or vitamin D - and from that moment on it seems that "everyone" is talking about burnout or that you see the news about vitamin D "every day"? Or after you started studying the possibility of buying a certain car, you started seeing exactly that car everywhere, something you had never noticed before? It's the same system at work.
Beyond the standard definitions, SAR allows data and information present around us to come to our awareness about what interests us and what we devote time, energy and focus to: ideas, goals, opportunities.
When we put our energy, our motivation and our focus on a goal, we start to see more opportunities to achieve it, new ways to get there and better strategies to make it a reality, which in turn makes it come true. This is not because "it was meant to be!" but because of the result of intention coupled with action.
Applying neuroscience, the message of the "Secret" would be this: if you put your focus, attention and energy on a goal, the SAR will cause you to recognise more tools, pathways and opportunities, putting you closer to achieving it.
The time to project and set goals for 2022 is the ideal time to take stock of 2021.
Not in an arithmetical way, of simply doing the maths on wins and losses, but in a strategic and intelligent way, based on Einstein's words, "Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results". It makes no sense to recycle unachieved goals from 2021 to 2022 without stopping to find the do to not have achieved them because, if the strategy does not change, the probability of the result being different is not only low but is dependent on luck and chance. And this is very similar to being insane.
Both in the clinic and outside it, we have the privilege of helping hundreds of people every year to create strategies for optimising health and performance. Over time, we have become aware of a common characteristic of those who overcome barriers and achieve their goals, however ambitious and "impossible" they may be: they have a reason for achieving them.
The power of the reason that moves us, of that why, is directly related to the probability of success. It is this certainty that it is possible to succeed, that you can do it one way or another, "no matter what", that will make you overcome all barriers, that you can overcome challenges and that will bring you success, even if you are the only one to believe it. Even your SAR filter will help you succeed!
There are countless examples of people around the world who believed in the impossible and made it happen:
Ramon Arroyo finished an Ironman, even though he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (having had a flare-up in the middle of his preparation)
Elon Musk has shown that it is possible to reuse rockets while transforming the automotive industry
Manoel de Oliveira was the example that age is a number, by directing films at the age of 100.
Why not be the next person to push your limits? It is possible to reach the next level, particularly in the area of health.
Above all, what the last 2 years have shown us is that, regardless of all the therapeutic strategies that may be used, our level of health optimisation is the best guarantee against everything and everyone. It is certain that the healthier, stronger and more resilient we are, the better we will get out of any situation we find ourselves in. This does not only apply to the pandemic situation itself but also to everything that has changed and the ability that we continue to have to adapt, to which we must add our ambition and will to be continuously better.
I leave you with a challenge for 2022: don't settle or accept being or being "normal".
Being or being 'normal' does not mean that you are or will be great or as good as you could be. In the context of health, it just means that "it's normal for people of your age or in your situation to feel the same way", "your results are within the average" or "don't worry about it for now, if it gets worse we'll see". Since when did we accept that it is normal to sleep badly, be tired, overweight, unable to concentrate and lacking in energy? It doesn't have to be that way! Is it normal? Yes, most people may even feel this way? Yes, but that does not mean that it is not possible to be better!
I don't know about you but, for me, the option of having an "abnormally" good, better-than-average and above-expected level of health and performance seems like a clearly better option!
I feel I live in a parallel reality because those who come to us want more: more care, more health and more performance. We have the honour and the privilege of choosing us to be their partners, co-pilots and advisors on this path. We will always be ready to help those who want more and make sure that the body never limits what it can achieve.