I soon realised that I was researching the wrong topic. It became apparent to me that, as seekers for solutions to this particular dilemma we are all putting our effort into the wrong area. Knowing “what” to do is the easy part. It’s the “how” that’s the trick. How can one be so genuinely motivated and compelled to make a change only to quit after a few weeks, days or when something stressful happens? What’s that saying? Execution eats strategy for breakfast!
All the knowledge in the world does nothing to change our behaviour if we don’t start with mindset and intention. I can see clearly now why we should put 99% of our effort into our mindset, nailing down the intention and having the conviction of our “why”. For me my watershed moment came with deciding that I didn’t want to live like this anymore. I identified my ”why”, and it came in the shape of my two beautiful daughters. I was terrified that they would begin to observe and emulate my bad habits. I wanted permanent change - not to sign up to another bloody 6 week program.
For me it was time. And this was to be the last time so it had to be permanent. And that’s what I did, purely through the power of Habit and now I want you to learn how to do to it!
Cherine Scheepers
Meet Cherine Scheepers, host of ‘4 Your Life’.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, I was raised by a single, and very busy working mother. My sister and I were brought up to be independent, self-reliant and resilient individuals. I remember being a highly active child and loved being outdoors. I loved music and movement, which naturally lead me down the path of contemporary dance and competitive ice skating. In these classes, surrounded by skinny girls, I felt constantly body shamed and criticised for being “big boned” – sadly not uncommon for many girls growing up in the 80’s. Being competitive as well as striving for perfection, I became determined to look like the other girls and outperform them. And so began a cycle of calorie counting, dieting, fad diet after fad diet, excessive exercise and punishing daily weigh-ins on the bathroom scale. This was to be my life for the next 15 years, my own private hell.
But life goes on …. I left home at the age of 17 and travelled to Cape Town to study a Bachelor of Business Science degree at the University of Cape Town. During my studies I became increasingly intrigued with areas of study related to motivation, cognitive psychology, behaviour modification - in fact I was rivetted by anything that explained or predicted human behaviour. I found that additional interesting theories were to be found in many other areas, like for example, economics, sociology, marketing. So it was, that, like a moth to a flame, I felt compelled to specialise in organisational psychology in my Honours year.
I was busy and happy with a great social life, lots of good friends and plenty of things to look forward to. Interestingly, my fight with my eating disorder seemed to recede into the background. I completed my degree and was recruited by a large and successful retailer in South Africa. Starting as a trainee, I worked my way up through the ranks, but after several years I found myself seeking my next challenge. In my mind this had to be outside of South Africa. Not sure if it was luck, fate and or manifestation, but the Universe responded and soon I was packing my bags for a new life in Australia.
Although it was extremely exciting and wonderful to move to another country, the strain of being away from “home”, family, and the familiar cannot be overestimated. Throwing myself into work and trying to establish a career without the support of a network, my balance was completely out of whack. On top of everything, in 2002 I thought it would be a good idea to complete an MBA. I signed up for a part time MBA at the UNSW, whilst continuing to work fulltime for one of the global Top 4 Professional Services companies, unfortunately one not known for their success in balancing employee well-being against the chase for billable hours. Not surprisingly that ugly old acquaintance tracked me down. This time it came flooding back and worse than before, extreme anxiety, panic attacks and a full-blown eating disorder. The usual distraction strategies or waiting for it to just go away were not working this time. I had to find a different way, and so, I started reading and researching, anything and everything I could find on nutrition, wellness, the psychology of food, mental health, one’s environment and eating disorders. But surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot that was new here.
