People are strange

Your worst supporters are often the people who you’d expect to be your most avid fans of your new chosen ‘thing’.

Your thing could be:

• A new hobby or interest
• A new partner
• A new job
• A new career or business
• A new life decision to lose weight,
• Or to get fitter, leaner, stronger, healthier, and happier
• Or to eat healthier, cut out those takeaways
• Or to stop smoking
• Or stop doing drugs
• Or to drink less, or even become sober

Whatever your thing is, you must be prepared for the peer pressure of those close to you to want you to actually continue to be the old you.

I know, crazy huh? Why aren’t they supporting you? Why would they not want to see you heading in a new direction?

 

Perhaps they don’t want to feel left behind.

Perhaps they don’t want to feel like they’re inferior because you’re choosing not to behave as they do.

Perhaps they’re scared of seeing you change and they think they might lose you as you drift apart.

Perhaps they don’t want a mirror held up to themselves to see how their own bad habits are negatively affecting their own lives.

Perhaps they too want to change but they lack the discipline to do so.

Perhaps they feel safe in their comfort zone based on ease and convenience.

 

Whatever the reason, it’s useful for you to know that you may receive criticism rather than applause for your new thing.  Then if/when you do, you aren’t surprised or upset and you can try to understand why they may be acting a certain way.

Change is sometimes a lonely place but just silently get on with it.

Have the courage to say NO.

Do not allow their insecurities to drag you back down to a place that you no longer wish to be anymore.

It’s like the bucket of crabs analogy – when one crab finds his way to the top and is about to get out, the other crabs pull him back down into the bucket again, instead of offering a helping hand to get him out.

As The Doors song goes, “People are strange…”

Keep going, have a conversation with them, lay down your new ground rules, and don’t cave in to their peer pressure.

Worst case, you will have to cut some ‘friends’ out of your life, or if it’s family then limit time spent with them.

Don’t allow anyone to derail your efforts.

And should you succumb to temptation, that’s okay, it becomes part of your journey, you only have to get it right once remember.