February: Be My Valentine

February: Be my Valentine!

I’d guess most people don’t. Why don’t we love our bodies? We live in them our whole lives and yet we vandalize them regularly. We don’t destroy our brick and mortar homes. Why do we treat our flesh and blood homes with neglect and harm? We can’t trade them in, nor buy new ones. We can pay plastic surgeons to remodel them a bit, but the genes are still the same, and the arteries remain clogged. And no surgeon can clear a negative mind.

So why?

I’d speculate one of many reasons  may be that we don’t have strong healthy boundaries. Think of a boundary as a bubble around you. This

bubble is impenetrable and safe. You get to choose who and what enters your bubble. Everyone outside that bubble makes requests and demands on our time, our energy, wants us to go and do and give. Ads bounce off it, words reverberate and float, but within that boundary we have space, a moment to breathe and decide, “Does this support me? Does this benefit my home?” Maybe even ask, “Would I counsel my best friend or child to say yes to this?” If it’s not a “Heck yeah!” then it’s a “no.” It’s that simple – but not easy. Boundaries take practice, a lot of practice. If we’re lucky, we acquired them as children; if not, we must learn them as adults. Boundaries can feel like rejection if we’ve not grown up with them. They can feel like we are rejecting others when we say no, and when others say no, it can feel like they reject us.

How does this impact your health and fitness? You may end up sacrificing your gym time or cooking time to  satisfy other’s requests. You may allow unhealthy foods into your body that you otherwise wouldn’t eat. But if you can think of the benefit or damage an activity or food has on you, maybe your bubble will start to bounce things off that previously crept in. Maybe your friends and family will notice and learn from your example.

I am responsible for my bubble and everything in my bubble: my body, my mind, my happiness, my attitude, my choices and all their results(positive or negative), my education and training, my relationships (they exist only with my colluding), my job, my career, my debt, my income. If I hand over my responsibility to anyone else, then I also hand over my right to be angry at them about it. I am responsible for owning my emotions.