Last night I lay awake in bed, visited by that heavy sinking feeling one experiences when they know certain choices and lifestyle aspects are not serving their highest good. It seems as though nighttime in particular is when these feelings rear their head. The busyness of life and daily tasks, to-do lists and errands recede and we are left with feelings and emotions that aren’t as easily avoided in the quiet dark of night.

For me, it was a two-fold uneasy feeling. The first being the knowledge that there were things I knew I could stop doing to improve the overall quality of my life. The second being the knowledge that there were things I could start doing that would also increase my peace of mind and overall well-being. So basically, things I knew would be worthwhile to eradicate and things I knew would be highly beneficial to start engaging in. This wasn’t a new epiphany but it was a wake-up call to listen with an open heart to the intuitive knowing that I had been conveniently ignoring.

We get so busy and over extended that oftentimes we put off enacting the things we know would serve our highest good. If you’re like me, this is mainly because there is some level of comfort and familiarity with our old patterns, even if we realize they are detrimental to our health and well-being. There is also a certain amount of inertia we have to overcome to add new patterns and behaviors into our life. It is sometimes easier to travel the path of least resistance and keep telling ourselves that we are going to make those changes once we have more time or when things settle down. The list goes on and on of legitimate excuses we provide to ourselves and others as to why now isn’t the right time. But in that quiet moment in bed, I couldn’t fool myself with clever excuses.

I was face to face with the real truth that was keeping me awake and restless. Why was I really unwilling to make the changes that would improve my life…and what would it take to make me ready to enact those changes? These are the really tough questions that we ultimately need to be asking ourselves. And these questions often come with tough answers that are sometimes hard and difficult to face. Answers that are more about our self-worth and self-love versus not having time or being too busy. We often realize that we haven’t put ourselves on our own to-do list and our behaviors are a form of self-sabotage that keep us stuck in painful patterns.

So, I woke up that morning and decided to do something different. I decided to commit to a 90-day experiment of enacting the changes I know would improve my life and ceasing the activity I identified as detrimental to my well-being. I finally felt ready to take action after asking myself the tough questions and digesting the tough answers. I invite you to think about your own life in this transformative way and create your own experiment.

In 90 days, I will have created new behaviors and patterns that will hopefully be contributing to increased peace, joy and satisfaction in my life. If that is not the case, I am always free to go back to the old patterns and choices. But I am going to take the leap and make these changes. I think the importance of being earnest with ourselves about what is really at stake is paramount. We have this precious gift of human life to enjoy and savor. What are we waiting for?