Last week we held our monthly workshop and it was all about developing the right mindset for sustainable health, fitness and fat-loss. At the end of it one of the clients mentioned that living a healthy and rewarding lifestyle all comes down to loving yourself and I couldn’t agree more with that.
So, should you love yourself the way you are?
Like everything in life, maybe you should and maybe you shouldn’t.
If you look around social media it won’t take long before you are bombarded with countless memes spouting that you should love yourself but it’s something that can have a massive negative impact on people if they follow it blindly.
You do need to love yourself if you want to enjoy the massive rewards that health and fitness can bring you, but it needs to be put into context if you are to truly benefit from it.
I think that falling back on ‘loving yourself’ is often used as a cop-out by many people to avoid taking action on parts of their life that they are unhappy, with even though changing their situation is 100% within their control.
If something is having a negative impact on your health, quality of life, happiness, etc. and it’s within your control to change it, then you need to love yourself enough to do something about it because ‘loving yourself’ without taking action will keep you exactly where you are.
If you just blindly follow the crowd who are spouting that you should love yourself even if you are 100% in control of your own circumstances but refusing to take action, then you need to prepare for more of the same plus more.
I’ve seen thousands of people adopt this empowering mindset and completely change their lives for the better. They loved themselves enough to take full responsibility for their situation and then take action to improve it.
- Love yourself enough to stop eating so much junk food if you have a few stone to lose
- Love yourself enough to stop smoking if you are struggling to play with your kids
- Love yourself enough to change jobs if you absolutely can’t stand your current one- don’t wait 25 years or never do it at all
- Love yourself enough to learn the guitar if you always said you wanted
- Love yourself enough to get out of personal debt
- Love yourself enough to exercise a few days each week
Don’t use ‘love yourself’ to remain in a rut of complete inactivity, eating 2 jambons for breakfast and downing a litre of coke every day. Never ‘love yourself the way you are because you’re perfect’ if you hate where you are and you have the ability to do something about it.
If that’s the way you are and you struggle to get through your day or you’re on the fast track to a lifestyle-related illness due to your choices, love yourself enough to do something about it. The only person who truly has your back is you and if you’re not there for you then how can anybody else be.
If you don’t like where you are with your health, fitness, quality of life, body fat levels, etc. then get to work changing it. That’s what loving yourself is. That’s what respecting yourself and holding yourself to a higher standard is.
And we’re not talking 6 packs here or chasing crazy advanced goals. Just taking care of your basic wellbeing so you can enjoy the things that matter most to you in life- hobbies, family, work, personal goals, etc.
Just me thoughts on this beautiful Monday morning.
Now go forth, have a great week and love yourself (but don’t take it out of context!).
Steve McGrath
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