The Yuppie In Me
I listened to one of my great business mentors, Brendon Burchard on a podcast the other day talking about the ways in which we push ourselves to achieve great things and why we never seem to feel satisfied.
When I started to really achieve great things in my career, it was in the late 90’s, the era of the yuppie.
Some of you younger readers may not even know what a yuppie is!
It stands for (Y)oung (U)rban or (U)pwardly-mobile and (P)rofessional.
It’s basically someone who is all about their career. The yuppie never settles anywhere for long. They are mobile (which means that they’ll move, at the drop of a hat, wherever their company chooses). Furthermore, they’ll work stupid amounts of overtime, without pay, just for brownie points. Their social life is totally based on their work colleagues because they have little time for anyone else. These rolling stones gather no moss and there’s no grass growing under their feet. With little time for self-care, they might consider a couple of winter viruses, migraines and chest infections a normal part of life.
Most of these guys drink coffee for energy, smoke cigarettes (being the only time they breathe deeply), consume dangerous amounts of alcohol to relax and dabble in drugs to escape their body’s cry for them to just STOP! However, they pretty much think that they are invincible.
Hands up!
This was me, for a while…
It wasn’t just my work life, it was my body shape too. I was never satisfied.
Even when I lost all the weight I wanted to lose, I would pick at the tiniest amount of skin extending beyond my underwear, the slightest dimple in my slim thighs. I felt that I could always do better, be trimmer, stronger, leaner.
An un- Satisfied Life?
I see this in the gym arena too and it’s all over social media.
“Keep pushing harder,” they say.
“To settle is to fail”
“Never be satisfied”
We’re told to strive, push and battle with our bodies.
DO YOU REALLY WANT TO LIVE A LIFE OF DISSATISFACTION?
Dieting encapsulates this too because even if you do reach the weight you want, you have a constant body battle on your hands to maintain it. You can never relax and enjoy it and be truly satisfied therefore never feeling ‘enough’.
This is the root of most eating disorders, including binge eating.
And it’s no way to live!
Ditching diets can seem daunting. I know exactly how this feels. You believe that unless you’re monitoring your weight, your food and your exercise, you’re probably letting yourself go and that you’re doomed to failure.
But research and my first-hand experience suggests otherwise.
Be Nice
When you stop policing yourself, berating yourself and being dissatisfied, something magical happens. Why? You see, gratitude, acceptance and love are far stronger than any weight-loss plan.
Appreciating myself, my gifts, my blessings and the magic that is my body, has given me nothing but freedom.
I don’t measure anything! Not a calorie, a pound or an inch.
But I do know from my clothes, that my weight doesn’t noticeably fluctuate.
Sometimes yes, I overeat (say on special occasions) but it’s not emotionally-driven. I don’t consciously berate myself and feel like I have to make amends the next day.
If I’m aware of it, I’ll offer myself more gentle self-care. My focus never leaves me – health for my body, healing for my mind and happiness for my soul .
That is a life of satisfaction and that makes me happy 🙂
If you want to know how I overcame emotional eating and found optimum health and lasting happiness in my body, grab yourself a copy of BodyMAGIC! – a Blissful End to Emotional Eating Forever. Available on Kindle and Paper – Go HERE for more information.
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