Since I’ve been on a pretty transformative journey in the last 30 days, I like to think I’ve gained some pretty valuable lessons on what “change” truly is and how to enact it. First and foremost, though, we have to define the word change and what it means to people. This is especially so considering such a large portion of the population seems to think change is inherently bad.

I’m here to say the opposite. Change is, quite honestly, the best thing that could happen to humans. Without it, we grow bored. Without it, we stagnate and do not grow. Without it, we can never reach new heights, develop new trends, invent new things, come up with new ideas, or advance as a species. Change is an inevitable part of the world that we should absolutely embrace, not something we fear or ward off.

My change all started with my diet exactly one month ago. Without getting too much into the nitty gritty of it and what it all means and why I’m doing it, I’d rather tell you exactly how it happened flawlessly from the get go.

All change truly takes is a shift in thinking. That’s right, you’ve got to change the way you think to change your lifestyle or habits or hobbies or interests. It’s all interconnected.

When starting out my new diet, the biggest change that I had to adapt to was getting rid of junk food. Though I cut out meat, it was arguably harder for me to see chips and candy boxes in the cabinets that I wasn’t going to let myself eat. So what is someone to do in this situation.

They’re to throw the candy boxes and chips away along with all meats they had, of course. Or at least that’s what I chose to do. By getting rid of everything I wouldn’t allow myself to eat, I eliminated its presence in my life not only from a diet standpoint but also from a physical, right there in your face standpoint. And once it was gone, guess what else left? My cravings for it.

It’s not hard to believe that ridding yourself of something physically makes you stop thinking about it much quicker than had you left it around. I mean, think about what makes you hungry right here and now. You may have to struggle some if you’re not as hungry, but you can eventually come up with something, right? Well, guess how easy it is to crave a certain food if it’s not just embedded somewhere in your mind but rather stored somewhere in your home? It’s easy to crave and cave if you don’t get rid of the things you shouldn’t eat.