Why Don’t We Take Care of Ourselves?

A friend came to visit the other day and we started talking about food and exercise. She asked, “Why do we avoid eating right and exercising when we know how much better we will feel?”. I don’t know. I think if I could figure that out I would be a gajillionaire. I was listening to the radio this morning and a young woman who said she was 32 called in asking the same thing. The radio hosts had no answer either. They said, and I have said for a long time that it’s in your head. I don’t understand how it works but I know that no one will change anything they are doing unless they have the right mindset. Now, how do we get it?
In 1 of my first posts I mentioned seeing the golfer on TV and how that clicked for me.
For those of us who deal with depression it’s much the same. We know we need to get up, get out of bed, get dressed and get out of the house. Some days just getting out of bed is as far as we can get, yet we know, we know, WE KNOW that all of the things that seem so hard to do are the very things that will make us feel better. Or at least that’s how I am.
What are we to do then? We have to find our own why. My why is not the same as yours. Also, we need to make goals that we know we can achieve and build on those. I wear a Fitbit and that has helped me want to meet my daily step goal. Maybe we just need to tell ourselves that today will be better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today. 1 day at a time. As you may have figured out by now, I am a prayer warrior. At the end of last year when I had gotten in such bad shape, was eating junk food all day every day and spending my days as a couch potato, I prayed to find the strength to change. I honestly feel that the answer to that prayer was seeing the golfer.

In Weight Watchers they talk a lot about not beating yourself up over failures. If you mess up and eat half of that chocolate cake, then just start over again right then. Last weekend I probably ate a pound of M&M’s. Starting Monday morning, until now I’ve eaten healthy all week. After all, the past is the past. Love yourself. I want to leave you today with a quote that I heard a couple of weeks ago. “Failure for me is the easiest thing to do.” From a disabled vet.
Do the hard thing. You will feel a lot better.

I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths.

Psalm 30:1