As a kid, I grew up on Frosted Flakes cereal. For breakfast, I poured myself a bowl, added milk, and then put a scoop of sugar on top. Yum.

But as an adult, I found myself less interested in eating those kinds of foods. So about two years ago, I hired a nutritionist to take me grocery shopping.

At my HEB store in Austin (the one at Mopac and Parmer), she showed me where to find the nutritious food I was looking for. In some cases, it was on the shelf right next to the old foods I used to buy, I just hadn’t seen them yet.

So I bought a few new items and brought them home. One thing I brought home was butter from grass-fed cows. It tasted so good to me, like soft cheese. I craved it. But my husband and kids thought the grass-fed butter was gross. So I put it on a plate next to our old butter.

And for the last TWO YEARS, I’ve been buying both kinds. The regular old butter and the new grass-fed butter. Over time, my family got curious and tasted the new butter more and more. Every once and awhile, I checked with them to see if they were ready for me to stop buying the old kind of butter. They kept saying, “No, not yet,” until one day they were ready. That was a month ago. So I stopped buying the old kind. Now I only buy the new kind, the more nutritious grass-fed butter, and it’s the only one we’re eating as a family.

If one day they ask me to buy the old butter again, I will, with ease.

Here’s the lesson from the butter. It’s the key to creating a shift in your family: Take the pressure off them to change. The ONLY PERSON you can change is yourself. So if you decide to improve your nutrition, do it, but don’t force it on them. Forcing it, “shoulding” them, puts you in a power struggle. Yuck.

Likewise, if you decide to improve your relationships, like if you want to stop yelling, tell your family about it, but don’t force them to change immediately too. Having one big change at a time is enough. Your change will have ripple effects over time. Smile to yourself when you notice the effects of your work. That’s your magic.

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