Recently a fellow blogger Roni asked, “Do your friends and Family Help or Hurt Your Efforts?” It made me think, and I wanted to share my response.
“My husband has his own weight loss goals, which is great. He’s trying to gain weight (muscle). I just have to watch my portions and realize that my goals are completely different. The food we both eat however isn’t that different. He knows that if he’s not careful he could gain the wrong kind of weight. I think he looks great as is, and he’s always saying the same thing about me. We both realize that we both have goals of optimum fitness & health. We should work harder to support each other. It’s hard when were both struggling. Most of the time it’s great. Recently, (at my request) he’s stopped offering to go buy me chocolate when I’m having a bad day.
My family knows nothing of my blog and it seems like the most overweight people in my family make fun of weight loss and healthy living the most. My family is full of sarcasm, which is really just a “funny” way for them to say mean things. I’m aware that I have a little sarcasm at times, and I’m working on being more sensitive, and open-minded.”
This got me thinking about how much my family can hurt my efforts…if I let them. For whatever reason I care about what my family thinks. Ok… It’s not whatever, it’s because I love them, and I know they love me. It’s been hard to realize that although they love me they don’t always know what’s best for me. Loving someone and telling them how you think they should live their life are two completely different things. Many times unknowingly they will hurt my efforts. It could be out of ignorance or even ego. Thinking that anyone healthier then them must be obsessed, or unhealthy, or focused on the wrong things in life.
Many people are unaware of their ego and how it affects others and themselves. I recently realized that I have a huge ego, and that’s part of why I care so much about what others think of me. I’m also very ignorant at times and say very wrong things. Either way just by recognizing I have an ego, helps it get smaller. By recognizing my ignorance, I can either not say anything or learn something.
