Hope

For a Pessimist, I’m pretty optimistic.

Have you ever met one of those people that seem to have a negative thought about everything. Maybe you are one of those people. Or maybe you’re that way to yourself. You think you can’t do things, that things are too hard, that they aren’t worth it. For all of human existence being a pessimist has been beneficial.  Imagine two cavemen walking, one says there is a sabertooth tiger in the brush. The other says, “Why are you always so negative?! You always think there is something in the brush wanting to get us, sheesh, just look on the bright side. It’s a great day for hunting. We are walking in a great…” CHOMP  Is that serving us now?  Sure being negative can help in certain situations. But what happens when our pessimism is weaponized against us?  How many times have you heard the tag line from a video or ad, “do this one thing to change your life!” or some iteration of that. It plays on our pessimism. You think, “Thats why I can’t get healthy, because I’m not doing that one thing. I guess it will never work for me then. I hate that diet, but that was the one that was promised to work for people like me. I guess its all my fault.”

Thinking that you are the problem is your pessimism in full force. But for all the wrong reasons. I’m here to tell you, all of this, it’s not your fault. It’s not your fault you're pre-programed to see the worst. To avoid the discomfort. Its what has kept the human race alive for countless generations. It’s why you’re here. What if you could use this to your advantage?  What if you could reframe it? What if you took those negative thoughts and asked, “Why?” Like a little kid asks why. Get to the root of those negative thoughts. For example:  I can’t lose weight? Why? Because it's hard. Why? Because there are too many restrictions. Why? Because that's what you do. Why? Because you can’t eat what you like. Why? Because that's what it takes. Why? Because…..because….that's what I’ve been told. Why? I don’t know…..

Do you see where I’m going here.  We are always going to have those negative thoughts. Those thoughts that tell us, its too hard, it’s beyond our reach. Let's challenge them. Most time we are not pessimistic about the thing but we are afraid of the unknown. There isn’t a tiger in the brush. We can question where these negative thoughts are coming from and how we can overcome them. Once we get the bottom of why we feel negative about a situation we can reevaluate and start to see how we can overcome and succeed. 

Make a list of all the reasons things have not worked out in the past for your health and fitness. Then, keep asking “why?”  It might fill up 10 pages until you get to the end. But I’ll bet in the end the main reasons it didn't work out is because of lack of knowledge, time, money, or resources.  Notice none of those things are YOU. I truly believe most people do the best they can with what they have at the time. You have done the best you can with the knowledge, time, money and resources you have had at the time. This is something to celebrate. Those failures have brought you here. They have been your torches lighting your path. You just couldn't see it for the fire.