Swedish Candy and Wellness

And what they have in common. 

OK, these two things sure don't seem at all related. But bear with me if you like a quick story:

My daughter ordered Swedish candy from Etsy. Apparently its "All over tik tok," and "so amazing."

It sparked several conversations about customs, delays in transit, old school shipping ... and how some things don't always take the path you expect.

Ordered from a seller in Sweden, this "sweet, tart, fluffy but gummy" candy was taking it's sweet time getting here. (see what I did there?!) 

She (mostly) patiently waited for this candy to arrive.

Checking the shipment tracking every single day, it felt like it was taking an E T E R N I T Y for it to find it's way to our mailbox. 

Especially when, for a few days, it was just stuck "in port," with no other details about when (or if) it would arrive. Zero movement. No updates.

The expected arrival dated changed almost daily. 

To me, it was a little comical, because I still remember a time when you ordered something and just hoped it would actually get to you. But she's used to a world where we can follow our progress every day... 

We didn't have great expectations that it would be getting to her anytime within the month. She waited for over 2.5 weeks for this candy to arrive.

And then one day, after faithfully waiting... it showed up in our mailbox. 

The box was banged up. It was the hottest day of the month. Would they even be in a condition to be eaten?

She opened the sun-warmed box, the contents inside an even warmer zipper bag. Rather than jumping right in, she had to make a painful decision. (Painful in adolescent, been-anxiously-waiting-for-a-package-full-of-treats-that-you-bought-with-your-own-money painful) 

They needed to go in the refrigerator to stabilize. For who knows how long. 

After grimly closing the refrigerator door, she sighed "I hope these are worth all this." 

She waited again... this time about an hour - didn't want them to get to stiff, just firm up a bit after sitting in the hot mailbox. 

She carefully considered each variety offered in the bag, and chose one as the first try.

And, it was "totally worth the wait!" Authentic. Sweet, sour and the perfect texture. Worth savoring. She's rationing it out so she can enjoy it over time, but not so long that it gets stale... she's showing some serious appreciation for something that seems so small. I'm probably a bit more proud of this show of maturity and patience than I should be. haha! 

But it got me thinking about how we're suffering from the "overnight delivery" effect. We've become accustomed to being able to get anything, anywhere, within at most a couple of days - AND - we get to track it the entire way, seeing incremental progress at every step. 

This is so incredibly difficult regarding habits, habit change, wellness, and health.

We're so used to getting quick gratification that we sometimes forget that making a change in our wellness habits takes TIME, PATIENCE and PRACTICE. 

It's one thing we really can't rush.

Our bodies take time to change. We take time to adapt to a new way of living. We didn't get to where we are now, overnight. And the changes... they take even longer. 

Our brains need time for a habit to become automatic (on average 66 days, but for something you're not doing every day, it can take much longer!) 

With small incremental changes, we can't see the results for quite a while. 

When we make a change, we want to see FAST results, and anything other than that feels like an eternity, and like it just "isn't working."

Motivation starts to wane and it becomes more and more difficult to continue when we feel like we are working hard and not seeing results. So then we quit, and say "I tried, but it didn't work." Then we feel bad about ourselves, looking for 

It's why experts recommend using an accountability partner. An accountability partner can keep you on track when the initial motivation fades. They help you remind you why you started and what the end goal is. They help you see the small changes that you've made and encourage you to keep going when it feels difficult. 

If you're ready to make a habit change, and you want it to STICK this time (almost as sticky as that Swedish gummy candy) then consider one of my ProActive Wellness Accountability Programs!