We often talk about the importance of setting up an environment that is conducive towards your goals. For example, if you are wanting to improve your nutrition to support weight loss, then perhaps you need to be mindful of having less “junk” around that you’ll feel tempted by.
We don’t often mention the people. Last week, the You are a Badass calendar had a message for the day the discussed the importance of surrounding yourself with positive people.
I also did a somewhat similar, but unrelated message and posted it to our business social media last week.
As the calendar message suggests, people often lead with this thinking because they believe they are doing you a favor. Really, they’re just applying their own limited self-beliefs on to you. It does more to reveal how they have been unable to establish healthy, positive habits in their lives.
Sad to say, there are also some individuals who when they have been unsuccessful with something, they don’t want you to be successful because it demonstrates what they too are capable of, but haven’t accomplished.
These are not your people.
Some of these people might be your co-workers or people in your social circle. To support your progress, there is a good chance you need to limit your interactions with these people. Self-improvement is not easy and surrounding yourself with people who only want to hold you back makes it even harder.
Addressing this challenge in your life might mean eating lunch with different people when you’re at work because you don’t want to be dragged down by the negativity. It might mean not hanging out as much with those friends who have nothing but stories of how they tried to do what you’re doing and how it didn’t work out.
It’s tough when the negativity comes from your own family. One thing I ultimately strive to remind people of, is: “your goals don’t have to make sense to other people.” It might mean a lot to you to want to get in your workouts 3-5 days per week and they can’t fathom the idea of getting up early to do that (if you’re a morning workout person). OK, so what. There is nothing you need to explain to them. What matters is that you have taken the steps to prioritize you, your health, and your future. What you really don’t want to happen is 5, 10, 20 years down the line when you are dealing with poor health or a declining quality of life all because you didn’t want someone else to be uncomfortable with your pursuit of a more vibrant life.
Of course it’s a bit easier to do when you have the support, however, I do recognize it can obviously be tougher to do when you don’t have that. My encouragement for you is to find as many opportunities elsewhere in your life where you are supported. Work with a mentor or coach who supports you. Find an environment (like our great gym!) where you meet like-minded people on a similar journey and will no doubt cheer you on.
Recognize that there may be circumstances where you have to learn to grow comfortable with going it alone. Instead of viewing that as something negative, view it in a more positive light in that perhaps this is where the character and resilience is developed and will help you be stronger in other aspects of your life.
In closing, I leave you with these three key points: 1) surround yourself with positive people as much as you can, 2) be willing to modify your environment when at all possible, 3) stay steadfast in pursuit of your goals because at the end of the day, no one else is going to do it for you.
Your friend in health and wellness,
Coach Candice
Need help finding that positive environment that fosters personal change? Book your No Sweat Intro, our FREE consultation, today and we’d be happy to discuss with you how we can help support you in making positive changes with your life. Click/tap the button below to schedule your appointment today. If you don’t see a day/time that works for you, just give Coach Candice a call and we’ll look for additional availability.