“But I Don’t Want To”itis

It’s a real thing, I swear.

Everyday, at least once a day someone tells me,

“But I don’t want to drink so much water”

“I don’t life to eat vegetables.”

“I don’t want to exercise.”

“I know I should eat better, but I don’t want to eat like a bird. I’d rather eat fries!”

I don’t want to, I don’t want to, I don’t want to.

Well guess what?

I don’t want to either.

Monday night at 11pm I sat in my chair absolutely beside myself with anger because I had to 1) make my breakfast, 2) take my vitamins 3) brush and floss my teeth 4) wash my face. We’re talking so angry about it that I was on verge of crying.

(this picture isn’t from Monday night, it’s from my first trip onto a NYC Subway, but the facial expression was about the same)

Not because any one of those things was difficult, or painful, or upsetting. I just didn’t want to do it.

But I did.

I scowled and sputtered all the way through making my smoothie and taking my vitamins. Both of which are critical for my health, and without which I will not be well.

I had a crinkled brow the whole time I brushed my teeth and flossed. Two things that have afforded me the luxury of not having any fillings or any dental work as an adult.

By the time I made it to washing my face I was just cranky. I have a Clarisonic which I love, and I don’t dislike washing my face, but at the end of the day I just don’t feel like doing it, even though my face always feels amazing afterwards.

Every night I go through this same ritual. I’m cranky about making my breakfast, taking my vitamins, brushing/flossing and cleaning my face.

Every night.

But I still do it.

Other things I don’t particularly enjoy doing all of the time (or any of the time for some of these)?

Eating my breakfast, that same breakfast I scowled about making the night before.

Exercising.

Getting out of bed.

Getting out of my PJ’s.

Straightening my hair.

Drying my hair.

Eating chicken.

Eating cooked peas or beans.

Eating sad looking salads.

Drinking all that damn water.

Eating all of those frigging vegetables.

Making phone calls.

Answering phone calls.

Talking on the phone in general.

I could go on but you get the picture.

Being an adult doesn’t mean you get to do just the things you want to do. It means doing things you don’t necessarily always want to do, but you do them anyway because you have to. Because you know in the long run you’ll be better off if you do them. I bet many of you don’t want to go to work, but you still go there every day. Why? Because if you didn’t you wouldn’t have a job.

Guess what, if you don’t take care of your body, you’re not going to have a working body to live in. 

You can get another job if you lose yours. Good luck finding a new body to live in. Yet we still value those external things more than we value ourselves.

I’m not always cranky about eating vegetables, and most of the time I do it happily and willingly. But sometimes I want to pick that bowl of carrots, or tomatoes or whatever it is up and pitch it against the wall and dive into a bag of potato chips instead.

But I don’t.

I sit down with a grumble and a scowl on my face and eat the damn vegetables.

Does that mean I never have chips? Of course not! But I make it a treat, something that happens once or twice/month. Not something I do on a daily or weekly basis.

I tell people when I’m coaching them that I don’t want them to force themselves to eat foods they don’t like, and that’s not what I’m suggesting here. If you don’t like avocado, then don’t eat avocado. But even if you do enjoy avocado, chances are there are times you’d still rather eat a Caramilk bar instead.

I get it. We all get it. And on occasion that is fine. On occasion I think it’s healthy to enjoy those less than great food choices. On occasion.

But most of the time, 9 times out of 10, you have to make the responsible adult decision. The mature decision, to do what you may not want to do, but what you know your body needs you to do.

I expect there are a few people out there that truly, honestly do enjoy eating well all of the time, and don’t crave “junk” food, but I think they are few and far between. For the rest of us, we still like chips, and candy, and chocolate.

Being healthy doesn’t mean we don’t want those things, it means we choose not to eat those things most of the time.

So I get it. You don’t want to eat healthy foods, drink plain old boring water or exercise. Very few of us do want to do all of those things all of the time.

But there comes a time when we realize that in order to live the life we want in the future – the life we want for our children – that we have to grow up, suck it up, and stop having temper tantrums like a toddler.

Choose the good stuff most of the time, and allow yourself the “other” stuff once in a while. It’s not rocket science, and it just might save your life.