Very rarely do people experience a total change of heart or become a completely new self overnight. They change by degrees, a little at a time.

You may look at each individual change as unimportant, but over time, little shifts accumulate into grander transformations. You’ll look back and see that you’re a different person than you were one year ago, because you made choices and took action that carried you in the direction you wanted to go.

I call these, “microshifts.”

I didn’t invent this word. It’s actually a pretty common term in certain circles, including the wellness and self-improvement circles.

With microshifts, you have a far-off target, and you divide it into bite-size chunks. Then you make whatever small shift that is available to you.

It takes some self-awareness to understand how massive a target is and how achievable it is for you. For example, in the story about my experience in the online writing course, I knew that self-compassion was probably what I needed (and what a bunch of my peers needed too). But self-compassion felt too far away—it was too big of a stretch. So, I started with self-acceptance. From there, I worked up to extending myself self-compassion.

To begin, I committed to what I knew would be challenging but manageable: self-acceptance, by stopping the cycle of cruel thoughts and instead accepting where I was.

In other words, you start where you are. You go where you can.

Becoming healthy is a big target. It only grows challenging if you have chronic health conditions such as vertigo and/or asthma, as well as big feelings around your ability to take care of your health, like I did. 

With these conditions, physically and emotionally, it was impossible to have a complete transformation in a short amount of time. A quick fix might help, but it wouldn’t last. It would take steady steps towards my target over time. It would dozens—if not hundreds—of microshifts.

Here’s another way to look at it: Our culture really loves to demonstrate transformations, especially physical transformations, with before and after pictures. The microshifts are all the little steps that happen in-between those two pictures.

So, here are some microshifts, spread out over a couple of years, in my journey to become healthier:

• I got curious about why I always got so upset while I was sick.

• I recognized that I was not the only person I knew with reoccurring health problems, and mine was actually very mild, compared to others.

• I decided to be healthier, and I invested resources like time, money, and attention to this area as a yearlong intention.

• I experimented with workout classes.

• I realized that my chosen workout class was making me angry rather than healthy.

• I experimented with other forms of exercise, such as long walks.

• I celebrated every time I took action on behalf of my health instead of continuing to be hard on myself. This included me patting myself on the back every time I stayed home when I was sick.

The microshifts in the story don’t happen in a straight line. They also aren’t a procedure for another person to follow. They’re always unique to the individual. Some of them are internal shifts, and some are external. Some take you a little bit in the right direction, and some appear to push you back but teach you something that helps you along the way.

How do you know which microshift to make? 

If you’re stuck or overwhelmed, you can always rely on your simple questions exercise. 

For example, in the middle of that barre class, I ran through my simple questions, and knowing more than I did before, I came up with different answers.

Why:

I’d started attending barre class, thinking that my why was: “I will change my habits to be healthier and feel good in my body again.”

By the time my instructor mentioned inner thighs, my why had clarified: “I was bringing my body back to its strength, power, and health.” Since the instructor—and probably many of my classmates—were more focused on appearance, I recognized that our whys were incompatible, and I was ready to try something new. 

Who: 

The only person I really needed to be involved was myself.  

However, I’d clarified that instructors, coaches, and other authority figures were not especially helpful for my journey, and they might actually be causing me more frustration at that moment. 

What: 

The what was my body, and even more specifically, it was the habits and other forms of nourishment that helped me tend my body. 

Where:

I’d assumed that I needed some sort of class or gym, but I changed my mind. I broadened this to my home, especially my kitchen and my neighborhood. 

How: 

I stopped forcing myself to do things I did not enjoy, including going to that barre class.

I reconnected to my body, through long nature walks, new recipes, self-acceptance, and other forms of nourishment and tending.

In other words, you start somewhere, and you experiment. When you try something, you learn something, and you can change your mind, refining your actions over time.