A few years ago, I found myself in the emergency room for stomach pain. I had a long string of gastrointestinal issues, and without finding answers on my own, ended up in the hospital being treated for it. Unfortunately, I also ended up there two more times in the next few months, which illuminated an issue I had to overcome over a few year period. My life has never been the same since.
But without going through every detail of the story of my stomach, I eventually found healing. I decided to invest in something called functional medicine, which is a more natural form of care that helps people look at their issues holistically. I committed to a plan – very strictly for the first year – that involved giving up lots of foods in order to heal my stomach. I had none or very little gluten, dairy, sugar, corn, alcohol, and any other inflammatory items. It was a difficult adjustment at first, but I made it through.
Since then, I’ve had lots of people ask me about functional medicine, whether they are looking for specific doctors or asking what strategies they should try to help their pain. While every scenario is unique, it led me to have the same conversation over and over again. After hearing a little bit about functional medicine, there’s a natural pause where they say something like, “I couldn’t do that” or “I wouldn’t be able to give up ___________.” In other words, I’m not ready to commit to the entire plan.
What I’m trying to say is this: people want to do things “ish.” They often don’t want to commit to doing something as intended because they’d rather do it their way. They want to make their own plan and expect the same results. While medicine might not be the best example – because everyone has different bodies and unique scenarios – the principle applies everywhere.
Last fall my wife and I took Financial Peace University, which is a course by Dave Ramsey about managing your finances more effectively. Anyone who knows about Dave Ramsey has heard about his “baby steps.” These are 7 steps that are meant to be followed in a specific way, and there’s always pushback. Even from me at times. But our coach kept saying the same thing the first couple of weeks: “You have to decide if you want to do this plan. But if you do it, you have to follow it. There’s no doing the plan ‘ish.’”
People want to do things “ish.” They don’t want to really do something fully. Think of your own life, because we’ve all done this at times: I’ll do the Dave Ramsey plan… ish. I’ll try out functional medicine…ish. I’ll try this workout plan…ish. The list goes on and on. It’s difficult to commit fully and give up your own preferences, desires, and habits. It requires faith, much like our faith in God. We can’t see all the pieces and have to trust that it will work out the way we are committing to.
Maybe it doesn’t apply to every plan, but beware of your biases whenever you’re going to make a change in your life or try a new program, class, or challenge. If there’s a proven method of doing something, do it. Don’t do it “ish.” Commit to it fully, and if it doesn’t work out at the end, you can be the first person waving the flag that it didn’t work for you. Most of the time, that won’t happen, which is why we usually need to take a leap of faith and follow through with our commitments. We need to do things, not do things…ish.