If you never had someone holding your hand and making you thwack yourself with it repeatedly while telling you (unhelpfully) to stop hitting yourself, you never had a sibling. Ah, memories.
Sometimes when we’re trying to make a change, it can feel like others are not only not helping, but even sabotaging our efforts. It’s important to understand of how deep motivations run. Fear of change is at the base of all other fears. Newness is unknown and therefore anything new is bad and even dangerous as far as our neanderthal brains are concerned (until proven otherwise.) This is the amygdala part of your brain working hard for your survival. Newness in others close to us is also bad because it may affect US somehow. WHY CAN’T STUFF JUST STAY THE SAME???
When we’re determining whether and why another person is trying to sabotage our results, it’s also important to take a look at the (wo)man in the mirror. How much of other people’s baggage are we voluntarily picking up and carrying? While we don’t need to go out of our way to make someone uncomfortable, neither do we need to psychically divine and respond to others’ thoughts about what’s on our plates.
Whether weight issues are primarily nature or nurture, interactions with our family of origin can be the most heavily-landmined terrain to tread.
“Eat! You’re getting too skinny!”
“Don’t you like ____________?”
“I made this special for you.” (Especially when it’s something you haven’t eaten for 30+ years.)
“Everyone’s having some.”
“It’s a special occasion.” (Your two year old nephew will not notice you not eating cake…)
“How long is this diet going to last?”
I just read the coolest ode to a bootcamper’s spouse for being phenomenally supportive. We should all have these people in our corners like Mickey to our Rocky - helping with the kids while you go to class, being sensitive to restaurant choices when eating out, or even noting that it’s coming up on the three hour mark to eat. That’s pretty amazing. Kudos to ALL the families who cheer from the sidelines, or even jump in and play the game. You are helping your loved one become healthier and more energetic for _you_. Because when it comes right down to it, most of our clients consider family their WHY.
All the best,
Marcey
Coach Marcey Tidwell is started as a client with NGPT in January 2011. Joining the team as an accountability coach, she wears many hats in assisting the Meltdown Nation! Nurse Marcey by day, she brings a wealth of knowledge the program!
