This post was originally written back in 2012 and whoa, was it fire and brimstone – I actually had to go to the Internet Wayback machine to find it….
Just had the opportunity to speak with one of my work colleagues and encourage her to stop making excuses for where she’s at. She’s a very big girl who’s on prescription meds for her ‘inactive thyroid’ and just can’t seem to get motivated to exercise…
Tony Robbins says “Until the pain of not changing is greater than the pain of change – you won’t…”
When you say that sometimes, people respond non-committally ”Yeah, I know…” and that’s it?!
- Yeah they know… that they’re staring into the very real possibility of Type 2 Diabetes?
- Yeah they know… that if they continue along their current course that pretty soon they could well be another statistic (AKA: dead)?
- Yeah they know… it’s OK to push on in their sub standard existence they call life, retreating to the dim glow of their television set, too afraid to go out in public because they’re ashamed of their body?
What the?! That’s not OK at all!
How does one break that kind of pattern?
I’m not quite sure what is is… OK that’s complete bullshit. I know exactly what it takes to get someone to be completely honest with themselves. The fact is most people already are. They already know it when they look at themselves in the mirror. They’re already hurting – Sometimes someone just needs to call them on it.
The world is full of people looking for sympathy for their self inflicted problems. Someone else who’ll pander to their neediness. Others that won’t challenge them to change and/or join their pity-party, agree and support them. “Yeah I know… I’m on thyroid medication too… Some people can be such arseholes – who cares what those skinny bitches say… I understand where you’re coming from… You should be proud of who you are…” – What? Proud that you’re too ashamed to put a bathing suit on? Really?
Everyone is broken
You can blame your upbringing and how your parents didn’t give you enough love. You can blame your education and how you were never taught how to. You can blame it on the suburb you live in. You can blame it on your boss and the job you hate. You can blame it on your last gym and the cruel coach that didn’t give you enough positive affirmation. You can blame anything to justify your lot in life – sure – but – “Excuses give you permission to stay where you are”
I’ve been there. I’ve been overweight. I’ve used the very same excuses that I hear people make every day. I’ve been in self denial and it wasn’t until I stopped by the desk of a work colleague and played with her blood pressure monitor (she thought that my blood pressure was high enough to warrant a trip to a GP for a check up…) that I received the ‘call out’ I so desperately needed.
I did go to a GP and sure enough, the doctor called me on it too – I’ll never forget it “Ben… you need to lose about 25kgs…” I was like “bullshit mate – I know muscle weighs more than fat yeah?!…” But I was kidding myself and I had only to look in the mirror. Deep down inside I already knew it. I just didn’t want to admit it and I sure as shit, I hated hearing it from someone else I didn’t know.
It was however the shock that my system needed. It was a well timed slap in the face and it was enough to break the pattern of excuses that I’d been peddling since I left the army 6 years earlier. I was only 26.
The difference between people who continuously make excuses for why they are the way they are and and the ones that actually go on to achieve incredible things with their fitness, finances, business and life are the people that finally get to a point where they say “Enough is enough… no more excuses… I refuse to live like this any longer…” and then surround themselves with people already achieving incredible things. People that will challenge them and push them and make them uncomfortable and expand their circle.
Personal change is hard. It can be painful at times. But surrounding yourself with people that pander to your neediness and feel sorry for you will see you stay right where you are…
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