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Every year, we spend millions of dollars on healthcare and beauty systems. Our days begin with teeth brushing, hair combing, and perhaps even exercise. Even if there are still many who need persuading or incentivizing towards participating in such routines, there is a general consensus that these self-care rituals are good for us. But when it comes to our emotional health, we are taught from a young age to “get over” our feelings, and yet in reality most of us just stockpile them, carrying their weight throughout life. Emotional Obesity will teach you how to become aware of our feelings and to subscribe to the habit of daily rituals for our emotional health, just as we have for our physical health.
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What is EmotionalObesity?
A Beginner’s Guide to Emotional Fitness (Why Emotional Obesity is the Most Important Thing You’re Not Paying Attention To)
LAURA COE
I want you to answer a question. A few years ago, I had no idea what to do with my life. In my teens, I partied - a lot. In 2006, as an adult, I sold a multi-million dollar company me and my brother built to a Fortune 500 company. And in 2008, I left everything to be with my son.
Yet by the age of 35, I had no idea how to design my life. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. I was miserable.
So here’s my question:
Why? Why did I have no idea what to do?
As a culture, we agree that efforts toward physical fitness and beauty are important - even being obsessed with it is socially acceptable.
We brush our teeth.We exerciseWe put on makeup.We take showers.We eat (healthy or not) food.We sleep.Put on deodorant.Dress according to societal norms.And we go about our daily lives...
Billions of our dollars are gone... To gym memberships, hair color, and personal trainers…
But What About Our EmotionalHealth?Our schools, jobs, and lives contain no blueprint for emotional fitness.
The answer to the question I posed earlier is that I was EmotionallyObese.
We are expected to be put together.We are expected to be regular people.But the reality is that many of us feel broken.
This problem (unlike physical fitness) is hard to see and therefore, ignored.
Just this morning I woke up and took care of my physical body several times, but I have not done anything to create awareness of my emotional life. I’m in a terrible mood. When I hit the shower, there’s an unconscious list of things that cause me anxiety, irritation, self-judgment. And by the time I walk out the front door, I feel emotionally confused, my head in a swivel. This is what happens all the time, and for millions, the repercussions look like shame, anxiety, and depression.
The Simple Truth...Is that many of us are emotionally obese. We are not trained to deal with our emotions effectively. We are constantly judging, sad, irritable, and off the wall. But, just like there are routines to fix your physical health (going to the gym and eating that apple), there are routines to tighten your emotional fitness.
“The inner freedom from the practical desire, The release from action and suffering, release from the inner
And the outer compulsion, yet surroundedBy a grace of sense, a white light still and moving”
- T.S. Elliot
So how do we lose the first 5 pounds of emotional weight?
First, identify an area of your life that is not working. If there is more than one area, pick one to get started.
The second thing is to get rid of your junk food thoughts.
What I mean is that we all have food cravings for different junk foods – you may want some cookies or a bag of Doritos. In the same way, we all have cravings toward certain negative thoughts about ourselves. Maybe you constantly tell yourself “I do not deserve better?”
What do you tell yourself?
The next time you hear those negative negative junk food thoughts in your head replace them with a nutritional thought.!!Instead of telling yourself you are unworthy, tell yourself “I do deserve better.” Just like you would with food – instead of choosing that donut, make the choice to have a salad.
Simply doing this, and intentionally changing your thought patterns, are the first foundational steps to overcoming EmotionalObesity.
ABOUTME
My name is Laura Coe and I’m an author and coach. Thanks for taking the time to join me on my goal for emotional fitness and spreading awareness. It’s an important issue, one we’re always learning about, and I’d love to hear your thought or struggles. Post a comment on my blog (EmotionalObesity.com) or shoot me an email ([email protected]).
