Do you ever find yourself doing something that doesn’t feel so great? I’m talking about things like repeatedly looking at social media even though you feel crappy after doing so. Do you eat when you’re not actually hungry—or obsess over tragic current events, even when you have no involvement? Do you call so-called friends or family members just to catch up, only to find yourself wishing you hadn’t done so? Or maybe you say yes to too many things, and then feel cranky when you have no downtime.
My guess is just about all of you have at least one thing that comes to mind. So, why do we keep going back for more even when it doesn’t feel good to us? I suppose it’s possible we are all just gluttons for punishment—or maybe we are just human. The only way to put an end to causing ourselves unnecessary pain, is to become aware of what we’re doing.
If we don’t take note of these things, we can find ourselves repeatedly in the same ruts over and over again. I remember a few years back, there was a horrific story about a nanny in NYC. I found myself pouring over article after article, only to find myself beyond upset about the incident. I realized at some point, that reading those articles did absolutely nothing but cause me tremendous pain, and I put the newspaper down. Learning every gory detail of what went on wouldn’t change anything, and it certainly wouldn’t take away the pain for those who were involved. I was only hurting myself.
I have many clients who overeat and then feel awful about it. I speak with people who keep going back to relationships even when they know it’s not good for them—and others who accept gifts from people they don’t respect, and then don’t enjoy what they received. People keep putting themselves in situations that yield unpleasant feelings for one reason or another. (Those feelings always come from your negative thoughts by the way.)
Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If you know from experience, something doesn’t feel good, and you don’t want to feel that way anymore, it’s time to change your ways. If you don’t want to change your ways, then don’t be so surprised when you find yourself feeling crappy yet again.
If you’re not used to catching yourself before it’s too late, it’s going to take some practice—yay, more practice! When you find yourself feeling icky, try and stop for a moment and check in with yourself. What are you doing? What are you thinking? Is what you’re doing actually serving a purpose other than making you feel like crap? Simply pause, and ask yourself, “Is it worth it to continue if I’m not gonna feel so hot?” and “Can I try and do things differently this time?” This can give you the space needed to step back and evaluate whether or not you want to proceed—rather than just going through the motions mindlessly. The more you do this, the easier it becomes, and eventually you will begin catching yourself before starting another icky-feeling-inducing activity.
Like I said a few weeks ago, if you want to change, you gotta make changes—you got this!
That’s it; that’s all I got for ya!
Happy day!
P.S.-Sharing is caring, so forward away! Oh, and leave me a comment if you’re feeling chatty—I love hearing from you!
