No Bully Zone..And That Includes YOU!!

Imagine, if you will, a little girl walking to school. She is neatly dressed and has her hair curled as well. She is carrying a backpack on her back and a lunchbox in her hand. She is skipping along the sidewalk humming a song to herself. She comes to a neighborhood intersection and stops. She looks both ways, and then proceeds to cross the road. She gets safely to the other side and begins skipping again, humming her song. Up the block, a girl from school is waiting for her. When she sees this, she slows her skip to a walk, the smile disappears from her face and the song she was humming is silenced. Her goal now is just to get past the girl waiting just ahead of her.

As she nears this girl, her eyes drop to the ground. The girl from school says to her, “Hey stupid, that’s an ugly dress you’re wearing. Not only is it ugly, it makes you look fat too.” and begins to laugh.  The little girl’s eyes begin to tear. Again her schoolmate starts dissing her, “I hate your curls, they’re ugly. Oh and your backpack is for babies. I mean why would anyone want a pink backpack with hearts on it?” Now our little girl is full on crying, but she doesn’t reply. The bully drones on, “You think you are so special, don’t you? Well you’re not. You’re stupid, ugly, fat and no matter what you do you’re never going to be a winner. You’re always gonna be a loser.” After saying this, she walks over and pushes the little girl down and begins kicking her, over and over. Sobbing can be heard over the sound of the scuffle as the little girl takes blow after blow.

How are you feeling right now? If you’re like me you want to smack the snot out of the mean little girl then promptly hug the other little girl, make sure she is alright and then reassure her that she is indeed beautiful, that her hair looks very pretty and the she can be whatever she wants to be in this life. Right? Yep, that’s what I thought. So tell me, why do you this exact same thing, only on an emotional and mental level, with yourself? Well, why do ya? Stop kicking yourself when you’re already down!!!

What does this have to do with personal training in Sandy Utah? Everything, because we are all guilty of it. We are guilty of beating ourselves up at least once in our lives, though sadly I dare say we all do it at least once a day let alone once a lifetime. Hell, I’m guilty of it myself! But why? Why do we do it to ourselves? The mean words we say to ourselves are just as hard on us as the mean words we hear from others, in fact even more so. Tell ya what, when you catch yourself beating yourself up, here’s four questions that I want you to stop and ask yourself.

1. Is there any truth at all  in the words you are telling yourself?

For example, Is it really true that you blew the entire week because you went over your calorie limit by 75 measly calories? No.

2. How would someone who is objective (i.e., unbiased) look at this situation?

Only the facts apply here people, only the facts. Do not allow yourself to be persuaded by thoughts and/or feelings. An objective person would say, “Okay well you went over your calorie limit by 75 calories, so move a little more (i.e., go for a walk or a bike ride). Also, watch your calories a little closer tomorrow. There’s no need for a meltdown, just a few adjustments. 🙂

3. What would you tell a good friend in the same situation?

I’ll go out on a limb here and say that the majority of us would never dream of talking to a good friend the same way we talk to ourselves. In your journey of weight loss, you have to become your own best friend (after all it is you and you alone that will most greatly benefit from the changes you are implementing). You must support and believe in yourself the way you would a good friend, otherwise how can you expect to be successful?

4. How can you rephrase what you’re telling yourself in a positive way?

For example, rather than berating yourself for going over on your calories, congratulate yourself for deciding to go for a walk, which ultimately, solves the initial problem.

If you are going to get personal training in Sandy Utah from me, you’re going to do it without bullying. Okay, from now on you are going to give yourself credit for what you have accomplished rather than focusing on what you haven’t YET accomplished, right? You’re going to get out there and show ’em all (but mostly yourself) who’s boss, right? You’re going to hug that little girl inside you, make sure she is okay and you’re going to reassure her that she is beautiful, her hair looks very pretty and she can (and will be) whatever she wants to be when she grows up, right?? I wanna see all of your heads nodding up and down and hear one large, collective, “Yes Laura”.  Ready?? Okay, go!!! 🙂