Tuesday, January 7, 2014

When You Care, You'll Change

Where do you fall in your list of priorities?

Is your exceptional ability to please and tend to others among your best traits?

Maybe you're the loving parent who makes sure their children have everything: material needs, your physical companionship to their sporting or extracurricular events, etc.

Maybe you're the perfect partner: always carving out time to make meals for your loved ones, making sure you spend ample time at the end of the day with each other, etc.

I love being around "pleasers". They're so impressive with their ability to multi-task and accomplish everything they need to and then some, so that no one is disappointed or left wanting in their life.

So, what's the problem?

Well, typically pleasers take care of everyone but themselves.

Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a fantastic parent, spouse, significant other, etc.

But when you invest your 110% into all of those avenues, many pleasers get to the end of their day and realize they accomplished little for themselves.

It never ceases to amaze me, many of the pleasers I work with can cover the most intimate details of all the things they did for others.

Only to discover, they forgot to shower, brush their teeth, fix their hair, put on matching socks, remember to wear all the proper clothing, etc.

At a certain point, you have to stop, take pause, and realize that only YOU can take care of you.

No one can make you exercise, eat right, or sleep well.

The initiative starts and ends with you.

Sure, you might hire someone like a trainer or a dietitian or a doctor to help get you on the right path but ultimately you're the one making every step.

Sadly, the pleasers save themselves for last.

And what happens?

Try this:
Repeated bouts of illness (due to exhaustion, poor nutrition, or too much stress)
Excessive hypertension (due to lack of balance in the homelife since one person is carrying more of the load than another)
Weight gain (due to lack of consistent exercise or adherence to a food regimen)
Decreased self esteem (see any of the above)

And this is why I respectfully say, when you decide to start caring about YOU, then YOU will change.

Sometimes it starts with reconfiguring priorities, schedules, and lifestyles. No one could (or SHOULD) penalize you for taking control of your health.

But any hope of having some sense of balance in your life will come when you start to take control and start looking after the few things in your life that are within your power to fix.

The pleasers I train who haven't wrapped their arms around this concept see slower weight loss, higher likelihood of regaining weight which was previously lost, and the frequency with which they get sick is astonishing.

And you look at their lifestyle and say..."Well, it's no wonder".

We can't force you to care about yourself and make YOU a priority.

But we can help you once you've made that very important step.

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