Clients will frequently report that they often only drink alcohol, stay up late, participate in risky and unhealthy behaviours, take drugs or eat certain foods to be socially accepted and to fit in which often makes them feel unsafe, unwell, sluggish and bloated.
But for some, this way of living is recognised as no longer working and they are making different choices such as not to drink alcohol, to quit smoking, to go to bed early, to take better care of themselves, to live a simple, joyful and loving life, showing respect and love towards humanity and to respect others without judgement for their choices.
When they begin to make different lifestyle choices, they feel targeted, condemned or even bullied and find it hard to make the changes they would like to make simply because of the pressure that family, friends, work colleagues and society puts on them.
This doesn’t make sense.
Self-loving choices may seem out of the ordinary to some, but from what I witness on a daily basis in clinic many people can now attest to the benefits they are feeling. Much of the pressure people feel is perpetuated by the media, to continue to engage in unhealthy and loveless choices. You just need to look at all the advertising for alcohol, junk foods, soft drinks etc. as well as daily emails advertising these products, to be tempted to make unhealthy choices. With pressure from society encouraging unhealthy lifestyle choices, many accept this as a normal way of living without actually stopping to truly feeling if it suits them, if this is good for them and if this actually represents how they truly want to live.
Our bodies naturally show lots of signs that the way we are living does not really support us, but because of the pressure from all of the above we still give in and continue with behaviours we know are unhealthy. Many suffer from the consequences afterwards but cannot say ‘no’ when it is just that one piece of birthday cake from your niece, the Christmas Dinner your family invited you to, just one glass of bubbles on New Year’s Eve, just that cookie or cake because a relative baked it herself, just that piece of chocolate because it is for a school raffle, just that glass of alcohol because it is your friend’s wedding and so on … you may have heard something like ‘I know you do this healthy lifestyle thing now and do not drink alcohol, but can you just have one glass with me, and I will not tell anybody?’ Who needs enemies when you have friends like that.
And at the end of this list would certainly be the statement that it is the norm in society worldwide to drink alcohol at celebrations, events, public holidays, dining out, after work, traveling on airplanes, to take the edge of life, work and stress or it is Un-Australian not to drink alcohol on Australia Day. This culture is what young people grow up with and get introduced to as teenagers and younger. Again, this list could go on and on and on, but I am sure you know what I mean.
Because of all this pressure we would rather suffer than dare to say ‘No’ to something we know does not feel right for us and is actually damaging our health, as in the end the body has to bear the consequences.
How crazy is that?
World health statistics show that we are not getting healthier while noting epidemic levels of obesity, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, mental illness and many other chronic diseases.
It is time that we as humanity looked at our choices, the consequences of those choices and start to take responsibility for our own health. This begins by saying ‘no’. Saying ‘No’ is definitely a healthier choice than giving in to the peer pressure to persist with an unhealthy lifestyle. Indeed, saying ‘no’ to unhealthy choices is saying ‘Yes’ to yourself, ‘yes’ to lovingly looking after your health and your body.