The Happiness Trap

"I'll be happy when I lose two stone."

"I'll feel good about myself when I hit my target weight."

"Once I get there, everything will fall into place."

Sound familiar?

Here's the thing. I used to think exactly the same way. When I was at my heaviest, approaching 50 with my seventh child on the way, I kept telling myself that happiness was waiting for me at some future number on the scales. But that number kept moving. And so did the happiness.

This is what psychologists call conditional happiness. You tie your contentment to something you haven't got yet. Therefore you can never actually be content. It's like chasing the horizon.

You walk and walk, but you never get any closer.

And here's where it gets really dangerous for your health.

When you make happiness conditional on a goal weight, every single day you haven't reached it feels like failure. Therefore you're more stressed. More likely to comfort eat. More likely to give up entirely. The very thing you think will make you happy is making you miserable right now.

But what if you flipped it?

What if you decided to enjoy the process instead? Not because you're settling. Not because you've given up. But because the small changes you're making today, eating fibre first, moving your body, sleeping better, these are already improving your life. Right now. Today.

Your blood sugar is more stable. Your energy is better. Your cravings are quieter. That's not nothing. That's everything.

So stop waiting to be happy and start celebrating your wins, no matter how small they may appear.

You're already doing the hard bit.

Enjoy it.

Your action today: Open your Clubwell app journal and write down three things about your health routine that you already happy with. Not goals. Not targets. Things that make you feel good right now.