You Are in Control

Disclaimer: I’m really not a jerk. You may get that impression from this article, but that’s just because I’m being honest. If you don’t like what I say, it’s probably because I struck a nerve and you are recognizing yourself in what you’re reading. If you like what I say, then congrats! You must be living a much more productive and successful life than most people, or you have recently come to believe these things and are on your way to living such a life. Now that that’s out of the way….please….read on.

I find it very interesting that the majority of people I meet in my day to day life are of the impression that they are not truly in control of their lives. Sure they may not say it in so many words, in fact they may say exactly the opposite! But when you can tell what they really believe by how they act and talk about things, especially negative things that happen to them or those they care about.

For instance, how many times have you met someone who has said something like “I’m just big-boned” or “my metabolism is too slow” or “I don’t have time to work out.” I bet you know some people who have said this….you may even know them intimately (hint hint). So what are they really saying – what do they really mean by that? It may surprise you to know that they don’t really mean that their bones are bigger than average, or that their body burns calories slower than average, or even that there isn’t enough time in the days of the week for them to exercise. No no no…what they are really saying is “it’s not my fault that I’m overweight because I’m not really in control of my life, these other things are.” They’re saying “my genetics made me fat and you can’t change your genes” or “I think these other things I choose to do each day are more important to me than exercising.” It’s not that they can’t lose weight because their bones or bone structure is too big, because their metabolism is too slow, or because they don’t have enough time. They can’t lose weight because they don’t really want to! They would rather take the easy way out and blame something else on the fact that they’re overweight and won’t do anything to change it. Now of course there are always exceptions to the rule and some people really do have genetic problems that cause them to gain weight. But for the majority of people….it’s just an excuse.