I had the opportunity to spend time with a friend of mine who seems to have it pretty together in terms of health, fitness, mind and wellness. She gave me what was actually an hour-long lecture on how to be better. The first thing she told me was I needed to fire myself.

“Fire myself?” I questioned,  “what does that mean?” And she explained it and it made perfect sense .
When we overeat,  when don’t get enough rest, don’t do our exercise program or any of those things which are not good for us, we always have a reason. At least I do. And my friend was spot on when she said this has got to change.

When we go eat that extra candy bar or take that serving of macaroni and cheese or just do not treat ourselves well, who’s making that decision? Of course,  it is ourselves. 
We choose the things we eat, the exercise we get and the hours we sleep. At least for the most part, lacking any detention camp stays or sleep disorders.

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So let’s change paths for just a moment.  What if you had an employee that worked for you and they continually failed to follow the rules and continually stepped outside the lines. What would you do?

We would fire them!  And don’t we do just the same in regard to our own health and wellness?   I certainly step outside the boundaries that I know have been drawn for me.  I don’t do the right things in terms of eating, exercise and sleep (I try!).  My friend was suggesting we fire ourselves and become newly hired employees learning to listen to our bodies (our bosses) all over again.
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At some point in my life and I hope to God it’s now, I need to decide to treat myself well. I need to be my own best manager. I can be successful at work. I can successful in my home life but if I’m not successful at handling my own health and well-being than who will be?

My friend suggested that I write down exactly what I expected of myself. Kind of like an employment contract. And then I hold myself to being the person I want to be. Sounds so simple and yet I know it will take a lot of work for me to do this.  Just this morning the candy basket came around and I actually paused for just a moment and thought about is this the right decision for me. But I still reached in and took a small chocolate.

My wise friend would say that’s OK .  This is an about treating yourself right, not denying yourself everything that you want. Instead of gobbling down that candy bar quickly because you just had to have it, she suggested sitting down,  taking a moment and savoring the candy bar. If it’s that important to have it,  give it some quality inspection with your taste buds.

Make each decision, each bite, each meal, a deliberate path.  I know you may have heard this all before but something rang true in hearing it put this way.  It was like she knew exactly what I needed to hear at this point in my life.
I am going to start listening to my boss!  I am going to fire myself and start all over.  I hope I do myself justice this second time around.

As always, thanks for riding along.