Be the Change: Transforming Your Health Journey Through Identity

Real transformation begins with identity, not just motivation or discipline, as I discovered when shifting from seeing myself as "on a diet" to embracing "a walker of three million steps." This change in perspective transformed my health journey from a black-and-white measure of success to a process of growth, appreciation, and small wins.

• Weight loss isn't just about the numbers on a scale but about the identity we create for ourselves
• Community matters—surrounding yourself with people on similar journeys provides encouragement and perspective
• The power of asking "what is your identity in this journey?" rather than focusing only on results
• Starting small (walking to the mailbox) can lead to significant changes (walking 11,000+ steps daily)
• Shifting from "doing" a health routine to "being" a healthy person makes consistency natural
• Creating a clear identity anchors you when motivation fades or challenges arise
• The key question: "Have I created my identity in this journey?"

Find your identity, claim it, and live it every day. When you do, your health journey won't be something you're doing—it will be who you are.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Best Version of Yourself
• 1:03 Why Diets Die
• 2:15 From Diet to Health Journey
• 3:26 Finding My Walker Identity
• 5:33 Creating Your Own Identity
• 8:30 Final Thoughts on Becoming

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Epictetus once said first say to yourself what would you be and then do what you have to do. Welcome, my friends, to the 3 Million Step Awakening Podcast. I'm your host, ja Medina. Wherever you are right now maybe you're driving, maybe you're walking, maybe you're just sitting in a quiet room Do me a favor take a deep breath Now. I want you to imagine the best version of yourself, the person you know deep down you're capable of becoming stronger, healthier, happier. The person you know deep down you're capable of becoming Stronger, healthier, happier. Here's the truth. That person already exists inside of you. They're not out of reach. They're waiting for you to step into them, and that's what today's episode is all about.

Speaker 1: 1:03

You see, we often think transformation starts with motivation or discipline, but real transformation, the kind that lasts, starts with identity. Aristotle said it best we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. That quote gets right to the heart of what I want to share today the power of identity in your health journey or any goals that you may be going out for and trying to reach. When you're trying to start something big in your life, just thinking about it isn't enough. Big ideas by themselves often lead to more confusion, more chaos, more frustration. That's exactly where I was when I first started and let me tell you, I kept it simple. I told myself, just like I had for years, I'm going on a diet myself. Just like I had for years, I'm going on a diet.

Speaker 1: 2:08

But here's the truth about diets there's a reason the word die isn't diet. Like so many New Year's resolutions, diets begin with hope, with motivation, with excitement. But then life happens, priorities shift and eventually the diet dies. Have you ever asked yourself why we quit the very things we're most excited about, why we give up on the things that we say we love the most? The answer is simple Because the things we dream about are usually the hardest and when the challenge gets real, we fall back on what's easy, what's familiar. That's what I feared the most this time around that I'd be stuck in the same story Start strong, lose motivation, see no results and then quit. Same beginning, same ending. But this time I made a decision. I was going to change the story.

Speaker 1: 3:17

At first, yes, it was just a diet, but after a month something shifted it stopped being about a diet and it became a health journey. And that single change in language and context completely transformed my perspective. Here's why, in a diet, success is measured only by the scale. It's black or white, win or lose. But in a journey, you can appreciate the process, the small wins, the lessons, even the setbacks. Suddenly, it wasn't about being right or wrong anymore, it was about growth.

Speaker 1: 4:03

One of the biggest reasons I was able to make that shift was because I wasn't doing it alone. I'm a part of Weight Watcher meetings. I'm a part of Weight Watcher meetings and let me tell you something those meetings mattered A lot. Here's why, when you're surrounded by people who are chasing the same dream, who are walking the same hard road, you stop feeling alone. Every week I walked into that room and saw people who look like me, who struggled me, who wanted the same things I did, and instead of judgment, I found encouragement. Instead of competition, I found community. There's something powerful about hearing someone else share their small victory, like saying no to dessert or taking a walk instead of watching TV. You realize you're not the only one fighting those daily battles, and when they win, you feel like you can win too.

Speaker 1: 5:06

My Weight Watchers leaders did something that changed me forever. She didn't just ask me about the number on the scale. She asked me a deeper question what is your identity in this journey? The question made me stop, made me think and made me look inward. And it changed everything, because my journey wasn't just about food or weight loss anymore. It had become something bigger. It had become part of who I am. That's when I found my answer I'm a walker of three million steps. That's my identity. It started small. At first. It was just walking to the mailbox. Then one mile. My first mile took me 24 minutes and 45 seconds. That's almost a 30-minute mile. I was also averaging only 3,000 to 5,000 steps a day, but then I set that goal 3 million steps.

Speaker 1: 6:17

Once I had that identity, everything started to shift. In nine months my mile dropped to 10 minutes and 36 seconds. My daily steps grew to over 11,000 a day. And here's the key it stopped being something I had to plan, it became a part of me. I wasn't doing it anymore, I was being it. That's the power of identity.

Speaker 1: 6:53

When you're chasing just a number on a scale, it's easy to quit, but when you shift your identity, when you become the thing you want to achieve, it's much harder to walk away. So here's my challenge to you Look at yourself in the mirror If you're struggling, if you feel stuck. Ask yourself have I created my identity in this journey? Because if you haven't, that might be what's holding you back. Once you find it, live it, breathe it, write it down, post it somewhere. You'll see it every day. There will be days when your old self tries to sneak back in. There will be days when it feels easier to quit, but if your identity is clear, it will anchor you. It will remind you who you are, not just what you're trying to do. And when that happens, the process gets lighter. It becomes more natural, because you're not chasing after change anymore. You've already become it.

Speaker 1: 8:11

So what's your identity? For me, it's being a walker of three million steps. For you, it might be something completely different, but whatever it is, once you claim it, once you live it, your health journey won't be something you're doing. It will be who you are. Thanks for spending time with me today. Remember you are not just chasing a goal. You are shaping an identity. You are shaping an identity and once you live that identity every day, you'll find yourself becoming the person you've always wanted to be. Until next time, keep walking, keep growing and keep becoming.