I have seen a lot of people on social media and out in social settings saying terrible things about their bodies. Things that if someone said that to them, they would probably punch them in the face. So why would they say that about themselves?
Why would you?
I want to tell you an old story that involves Huntsville, Walmart, and panty hose. If it was in the Bible, you would call it a parable. Here it is.
There is a famous story about the founder of Walmart, Sam Walton, and a trip he took to little old Huntsville, Alabama. Whenever Sam would go into a new town, he liked to check out the competition.
He went into one of Huntsville's local establishments with one of his assistants. The assistant was blown away with how terrible the place was. Junk everywhere, terrible employees, etc…
Sam and the assistant met back up later to compare notes. The assistant laid out all the things that were so bad about the store.
Sam did not say one thing about the negative. He said "Did you see that panty hose rack? I wrote down the manufacturer, we have to get those for our stores. Also, did you see the ethnic hair care section? They have 12 feet of shelf space, we only have 4! We are missing out on this, we need to correct it."
What's the moral of this story? You can focus on the negative or you can accentuate the positive.
So here is your homework. Instead of constantly tearing down your body and talking bad to yourself about the things you hate, I want you to think about the 2 things you like most about your body.
It can be, "I have the best shins in town", like my friend Carol Marks. She's kind of a big deal. Or it could be "My body has had 3 kids, multiple surgeries, several injuries, and I',m still kicking ass!"
That last example would have to be adjusted for the Bible parable. Or people might get confused about why people are attacking animals.
Whenever you are tempted to talk negatively, flip it around and think about the positive. Whenever you are focused on the negative, that is all you see. It gives you tunnel vision and makes you miserable.
Stick with the positive message and it opens your mind up to the possibility that the other things you dislike about your body might not be so bad.
We are still ramping up for the best year of your life in 2018. It all starts with the mental game. Put this one into practice!
