What Your Thoughts Have To Do With It
You’ve Got 99 Problems… Why Even Focus On One?
Food, exercise, job, relationships, sleep, family – there are so many things we think about in any given day. Most of the time, we tend to only focus on the negative: “I need to eat better, why I can’t just do it?” “I’m so stressed out, I don’t have the energy to work out” “I need to do laundry and pick up the kids; I don’t have time to cook something healthy”. We speak so negatively to ourselves; we don’t have room for the positive talk! Once a “task” is seen as something we already do well, everything else will fall into place.
What You Think About Food
We often see food as the enemy – the thing that made us unhealthy in the first place. Once we start there mentally, we jump off into “Negative Land”.
Think about one thing you have done that was a positive food choice.
Did you drive past that drive-thru and cook dinner Tuesday night (even if it was just one day that week)? Did you keep some healthy snacks in your purse so you didn’t over eat when you got home? We tend to only think about the things we did wrong, instead of even one thing we did right. Make a list of the good choices you’ve made in the past, and this will catapult you to more praise than insult.
Not just our kids can benefit from positive reinforcement!
The same thing goes for the type of food we eat. Instead of focusing on what we CAN’T have, make a list of even five positive things about eating healthy, preparing meals, or times when you have done this before. You’ll remember how you did it, and end up making a habit you actually enjoy; i.e. dividing food into plastic containers, buy your favorite fish and make that for dinner on a weekend, take out your “finer china” and have an enjoyable sit down dinner, or bring your own healthier snacks in your purse and car. Practice just one of your positive plans every day, and the rest will come!
What You Think About Exercise
I’m sure we all could name off exercises we DO NOT like. (did I hear the B word?) We can complain about getting up early, being too tired after work, and how difficult some of the workouts are.
What if we were to talk about and list off the exercises we DO like?
What about the boot camp you loved and did really well at? What about the Zumba class that was so fun, you forgot you were working out? Write down and focus on just the workouts and exercises you really enjoyed and excelled at. You will begin to feel happy and confident in your workouts, and this will only result in trying and enjoying your daily exercises.
The way we think and speak to ourselves makes all the difference. It can seem easier to point out and focus on the things we don’t like about living a healthy lifestyle, the workouts we don’t like, or the food we don’t want to make.
Picking one thing out of these categories to work on, that you already enjoy, will give you the satisfaction you’ve been craving. It’s time we stop speaking to ourselves about our problems, and start a new conversation (and healthier life!) on a positive note.
