In those days, my son Jonatan trained five days a week, gearing up for the cross-country races he regularly took part in.

One time he came home completely wiped out after an especially tough race. I asked what happened, and he answered: “Mom, I discovered something important today.”

I asked curiously what exactly, and he explained:

“Every week I tell you how hard it is for me during the races. In every competition the pressure just grabs hold of me, and doesn't let me enjoy it.”

“Even though the training itself is very intense, I've learned to enjoy it. But the pressure that shows up right before the start just takes over me from the inside, and makes me feel weak all over my body.”

“But today something different happened. In the middle of the run, one sentence just got stuck in my head and kept repeating itself over and over: ‘The hardest part of a race is starting it.’ I felt like that’s exactly what happens to me.”

I told him I agreed with him completely, and that I have a name for this phenomenon: “transitions.”

The start is the most challenging moment. And that's true for pretty much everything in life. Once you push through the start, everything else already becomes so much easier.

Why we recoil from transitions

People, quite naturally, seek comfort and familiar routine. That's why it's hard for us to give up a reality that feels known and pleasant. And sometimes, when we're required to step toward something foreign and less familiar, we freeze up, avoid it, drag our feet, lose motivation, or get anxious.

The result is that we stay exactly where we are.

Try thinking about all those transition moments: from cold to heat, from darkness to light, from a relaxed weekend to the load of a Monday, from being asleep to waking up, from eating without limits to a balanced menu.

The moment you've entered the transition — that's the hardest moment. But once you adjust to the new state, the road opens up ahead.

So, if there's a habit you want to quit or something new you want to succeed at, remind yourself: the hardest part is the beginning. It can take about two weeks to adjust to the transition, and after that, things tend to become much easier.

Wishing you the courage to start, even when it's the least comfortable,
❤️ Hannah