No Excuses

Often what's standing in the way of good health is nothing more than our thoughts and habits. Recent reports have cited that chronic disease in Americans is due to lifestyle anywhere between 51% to 80% of the time. Which means we have no one to blame but ourselves. Perhaps that's harsh - we have a broken food system, and lots of societal pressures to not take care of ourselves. But, in the end, we're all responsible for ourselves and the state of our health.

We have many reasons for not taking better care of ourselves. I know - I used to be the poster child for this, spreading my excuses wherever I went, trading them with friends like my brother used to trade baseball cards.

Here are some of the reasons I'd trot out for anyone willing to listen:
- I need sugar to keep me going in the afternoon.
- I'm too busy to exercise.
- Without all this coffee, I won't make it through the day.
- I'm too busy to cook.
- I don't have the luxury of sleeping the hours I need.
- It's in my genes.
- Of course, I'm stressed - I have kids.
- I can't lose weight because I'm menopausal.
- I get too hungry if I eat less.
- I'm addicted to sugar.
and my all time favorite:
- This is just the way I am.

There's more but you get the point. Do you recognize any of your own reasons for not being healthier in the list? Do you have anything else holding you back?

The amazing thing is that we believe these words. How do we know our thoughts are right? We give them power by repeating them and acting on them - which leads to our not taking the actions that would disprove them. I like an analogy that Dr. Wayne Dyer uses, which he credits Abraham Maslow for teaching him: the past is like the wake left by a boat. It doesn't propel the boat. However, many of us assume the wake (how we've always done things) is what pushes us forward. We can keep looking back, using the same, old excuses, assuming we have to live as we always have, or we can turn our eyes and thoughts forward and both think and try new things. If this idea resonates with you and you want to read more about it, I recommended Dyer's book "Excuses Begone!".

Or, you can remember Henry Ford's (which I thank my darling husband for teaching me), "Whether you think you can, or think you can't, you're right!"