One school of thought in motivation tactics is to berate and humiliate someone into change. But think about this for a moment, how can your health go up when you or anyone else puts "you" down? How can you feel wonderful about yourself and life via fault finding and critical nit picking? A negative cannot create a positive. Like energy can only create and attract like energy.
An extreme example of using disdain as an incentive method is this guy Michael Karolchyk who owns the "Anti Gym" in Denver who has quickly garnished A-list a**holeness around the Internets for his "Chubbies get no hubbies" style of weight loss stimulus. He's like that meat head bully in high school who likes to terrorize fat girls by demeaning them and making them feel inferior.
The thing though about this Michael "Anti-Class" Karolchyk is that in many ways he is just a physical manifestation of the inner critic that lives in many people's heads especially in the heads of people who can't stop putting themselves down, or have severe self loathing issues. Now, this guy may be an extreme jerk, but how extreme have your own inner put-downs been? How many times have you said to yourself things like:
- You'll never get a man or keep a man because you're fat.
- You are so ugly, no one is ever going to love you as you are.
- Guys only want to date skinny chicks and you don't have a man because you are xyz pounds over weight.
- I hate being fat. I hate myself for being fat. I can't love myself until I'm thin.
- You're not worth it because you're ugly and fat.
Never in a million years would you ever say things like this out
loud to another person because it is cruel and mean, but in your head
to yourself somehow it is okay. Somehow you can justify the self
maliciousness. But why? Why are you being this un-relentingly hard on
yourself?
I know these tapes really well because I used to say them over and over to myself like clock work. The inner verbal abuse was especially bad when it came to dating. I seriously used to believe that no man could love me if I wore anything over a size 10. Somehow, I associated a dress size with my lovability factor, and I would not let up on the berating if I gained weight and wore a 12 or bigger. In fact, the inner fault finder in me got meaner over the years, and it is no surprise that I developed some major body image and self esteem issues. Until I dealt with that inner-meanie, my health only got worse not better. What helped me get better was to start changing my inner tapes to things that were more supportive and encouraging.
If you keep playing these tapes over and over again in your head,
realistically, how can your health, mind, body, or spirit ever go up and get better?
Self put downs never made anyone improve as a person nor help them heal
from an illness or from weight gain. It all starts with self love and
acceptance. Your health will become vibrant when you start building
yourself up instead of tearing yourself down. The weight will come off
when you can start loving your body and start loving you more. Give more power to your inner inspirer and fire your inner critic. Start
taking baby steps, and start telling yourself that you are worthy,
valuable, and lovable as you are now, today. You are worth it.
