How Do We Reach — And Then Leave — A Plateau in the Things We Do?
Plateaus are an unfortunate reality of everyone’s health, wellness, and wellbeing journeys.
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Have you ever tried to lose weight, get into better shape, and reached a point where you seemed unable to advance?
Did you ever try to build a new habit, and in the process reached a point where you got stalled, and couldn’t seem to progress?
Have you ever tried to learn a sport where drills to build better muscle memory help you improve — but you reached a point where you seemed stuck?
These are all examples of a plateau.
Whatever it is you might be attempting to work on or do, odds are that along the way you’ll reach a plateau. There comes a point where you just get stuck and can’t seem to advance.
For example — I have been actively working to get in better shape and lose weight. For several months now, the same number shows when I (intentionally infrequently) step on the scale. That’s a plateau.
Another example — I have a friend who has been doing the same medieval fencing game as me for 20 years plus. They reached a point where their overall inherent and learned skills seem to have been placed on hold. They get no worse — but neither do they improve. They have been at this place for years. That’s a plateau.
In my experience — reaching a plateau in your health, wellness, and wellbeing journey is the norm. But how does this happen — and what can we do about it?
How do we reach that unwanted stopping point?
First, we need to recognize and acknowledge that a plateau is a stopping point we reach — but don’t desire to reach.
But how does this happen?
Habit.
To change anything at all, or to develop a new skillset, we need to find, create, and build new habits.
A large swath of the things we do in our lives is habitual. It becomes rote and routine and automatic as such.
This is extremely useful. Since mindfulness — conscious awareness — is not our natural state of being, doing things…
