What's your WHY?

Why do you want to get healthier? Why do you want to change your lifestyle?

For me, this is such a crucial issue both as a person and as a doctor. Because over time I have found there can be quite a mismatch between why I want to improve my health and why someone else might think I ought to.  And without identifying my WHY, I found it easier to lose motivation and slowly slide off the wagon, because it was heading to a destination someone else had set.

So for example,  meeting 45-year-old Claudia who's been newly diagnosed with diabetes, as a doctor, I could tell her why it's important to keep her blood sugars under control because it reduces her risk of complications like blindness or amputation, or kidney failure.  But really what's more important to know is what Claudia believes about her condition and what motivates her to want to get better/stay well.  So for Claudia, it could be: “I want to work at reversing this diagnosis because I don't want to start taking tablets”  Or “I want to be well for my children.”  Or “I want stay healthy to look after my aging parents.”  Whatever it is, this is what will motivate Claudia to keep going, especially when willpower runs out and staying the course gets difficult or dull. It doesn't matter what your WHY is, as long as it’s YOURS!

Having struggled with being overweight for years, including throughout my medical training, it may surprise you that the real epiphany of my WHY came only a few years ago, when I came to understand through a Cancer UK advert, the links between being overweight/obese and cancer (for more info, visit this link https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/obesity-weight-and-cancer/does-obesity-cause-cancer). Of course, my younger self had several, superficial transient WHYs: I need to lose weight to fit into my graduation dress, or to make my ex feel bad, or to lose my baby weight after my boys were born. But this was the one that really hit home. If I could do something, if there was something within my power to reduce the risk of me getting cancer, I was going to do it. I was going to stick to it, no matter how long it took. And step by step, I’ve delved deeper into the research, applied it to my life, and made great strides. And it’s my experience on this journey that I want to lend to you.

So… what’s your WHY? Are you ready to do something about it? Book an Explore call with me today to see if I can help you make progress.