Defining Hard

Listening to many people's stories of what they have endured in life, I am amazed, impressed and motivated by the ability of each of us to face huge obstacles; huge failures; huge personal losses, and yet continue to carry on.

Hard to me would be to be in a war and have to escape the country I love (this happened to my father-in-law as he was forced by the Germans and Russians to leave Estonia) to create a new life in Canada. From being a full professor in Tallinn, Estonia, he was forced to become a janitor in Toronto as his degree in his homeland was not accepted here. Nevertheless, he persevered and never ever complained, and with hard work over many years became a professor again at Guelph University. This is but one short story of millions of people having to do the same, then and now.

Hard would be to endure a 24 hour endurance race. Hard would be to train for years and years, make the Olympic Team and not reach the finals in ones chosen sport. Hard would be to be mentally or physically disabled yet try to find acceptance in this harsh judgmental world. I could go on and on.

Thus, when I hear that trying to change habits of eating or to give up ones favourite food is too hard (even if it leads to diabetes and heart issues), I'm left wondering what we are prepared to endure.

Possibly what has happened is that we have grown up with food always readily available; maybe we just accept that we can eat as much as we want, whatever we want, anytime. We anticipate that the evening is a time where we can put our feet up, turn on the TV and snack. How hard would it be not to snack? How hard would it be to do a little exercise and not just sit?

If we walk into a grocery store, how difficult is it to pass up the chip aisle, the ice cream, and the cookies? Yes, these are pleasurable, but they are going to eventually lead to chronic illness. In relative terms, compared to the difficult journeys and hardships of so many people, is denying oneself that easy bit of satisfaction of food, truly hard?

Possibly our focus needs to be on what we want for ourselves. Health! Appearance! Being able to move without being short of breath! If we have clear focus on what we want to become, denying ourselves those sugary treats will become easy (or, easier).

One client I know who works very long hours, gets up at 4.30 each morning to ride her stationary bike, or swim, or jog, because she has a goal to finish a long race. She doesn't complain. Yes, this is hard, but getting up a bit earlier and doing some activity would eventually become an integral part of your day. Moreover you will feel better about yourself.

We truly get confused between pain and pleasure. The pleasure of food is immediate. The long term consequences to our physical and emotional health, devastation. The ‘pain' of exercise, or the ‘pain' of denying ourselves those snacks are only temporary, yet the emotional and physical benefits are huge over the long term.

Try to visualize yourself years from now, and how you will be, health wise. We can live healthy to a very old age. The choice is ours; we can't give into immediate gratification.

Start by not bringing snacks into the house. Learn that ‘denying' yourself these unnecessary foods, makes you feel better in the short and long term.

You can do it, don't ever give up!
Dr. B