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Lauren Muney at age 40:
Wellness coach and featured in
"Fit Over 40: Role Models for Excellence"

LAZINESS: Am I lazy... or do I just feel like I am?
By Lauren Muney

Think back to when you wanted to be fit and healthy... perhaps even a day ago. You thought about your goals, you realized what you wanted your body to look like... and you still sat on the couch watching your favorite television programs.

"I'm lazy," one client told me, "so that's why I can't get trim".

Please take this with love, and I mean this with all delicacy (truly): You'll have to get over laziness. SERIOUSLY. Being "lazy" doesn't help you accomplish a single thing in your life, from eating the correct foods to exercising to having a healthy relationship.

However, you don't ever have to RUSH into anything if you aren't ready for a confusing new routine yet. You are more liable to keep new, healthy routines if you "try them on" first. You can transition easily into doing what you need to do for yourself:

• see how new activities and behaviors work into your schedule
• see how certain exercises feel
• discover how new habits can be easily created to break your old habits which aren't serving you anymore

SEDENTARY ADDICTION:
Laziness is simply a "habit" . . . an addiction. It became comfortable to be 'lazy'; in the same way that anything else is an addiction (drinking, gambling, certain food, certain TV programs, etc). Addictions give us comfort; they are predictable, we understand them, they satisfy a need from something outside of us. Laziness gives us comfort also; not by giving us rest, but by keeping our efforts at a minimum. Laziness is simply "sedentary addiction": the addiction of sitting inside a life which revolves around a seated (or reclining) spot.

We get into the habit of doing something preferable than doing something that's "good for us". There's ultimately nothing wrong with doing things we love to do, even relaxing! Relaxation is refreshment, and refreshment is RENEWAL. We are here on the planet to live and learn, and pleasure is something that we deserve to have. However, when our bigger quest is for our health, that perpetual relaxation vacation might wind up killing us rather than refreshing us.

There's a great book I read called The War of Art : written by the author of "The Legend of Bagger Vance", it describes the creative process -- and how "Resistance" is the enemy. Think that "creativity" is not realized to fitness? Think again! "Resistance" gets in your way every day that you:

• delay exercising
• choose treat foods on your non-treat days
• delay truthfully examining your nutritional behaviors
• avoid measuring yourself or weighing yourself
• turn out the lights when getting intimate with your partner, so you can't been seen
• deny your aches and pains, hoping they'll "go away" on their own
• etc

Laziness is simply "Resistance" embodied... "embodied" in your body. Laziness is Resistance to LIFE.

Laziness could be many things:

• Disguised fear of change
• Identity: you think you ARE your habits, so you create an identity of "who I am" (I drink sodas, I watch TV in the evenings, I don't eat breakfast, I have desserts every night, etc) ... YET, you don't want to be considered  "that overweight lazy person who..."
• Lack of knowing how to begin exercising or eating better

WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT MY LAZINESS?

First, don't be scared, nervous, or disappointed in yourself! Think of this stage in a new way: you are discovering how to OVERCOME RESISTANCE. You are becoming aware that you don't need laziness in your life! With that coaching in mind ("You are better than your laziness!"), let's move on.

Secondly, think about what you are lazy about. Come on, you already know what you are lazy about. Maybe it's exercise... or understanding better nutrition... or starting a healthful lifestyle... or deciding to read better books... or cutting down your TV watching... or staying up late... or cutting down your Internet! (Feel free to think about all your habits!)

Thirdly, think about whether you "identify" yourself as those habits. If you can say, "I am...(name a habit)", then you identify yourself with that habit. Here's a few hints:

I:

• am a soda-drinker / coffee-drinker / beer-drinker, etc
• am a "Law and Order"/news/ late-night TV watcher
• am a computer geek
• am a race fan
• am always on the couch watching TV
• am a workaholic
• love my daily cakes
• always have syrup on my pancakes
• have never exercised
• ignore my aches, pains, and chronic problems
• know I am fat so I just buy bigger and bigger clothes
• etc

Fourth, ask yourself if having a better life is WORTH changing those things: changing those identities. Are you happy considering yourself lazy? Deeper still, are you happy doing the things you are calling yourself lazy about? Most likely you are NOT happy, or you wouldn't be reading this article.

Fifth, just change*. In an instant, you can go from being a "couch potato" to "someone learning how to exercise". You can go from unfit to working on it -- and one day, you will turn around and your butt won't be there anymore! Once you are AWARE that you don't want to be those things, you step into a whole new realm of discovering and acting on how to be a new new you. You may not be perfect yet - and it may be a while until you are fit, but you will never again call yourself "lazy".

(One of my clients quit smoking after almost 20 years of the habit, up to 2 packs a day. He finally decided that he didn't want a 'habit' ruling his life. He said, "I remember when I had my last cigarette. I wadded up the pack, threw it in the trash, took out the trash, and cleaned the ashtray. That was the end... it took longer for my body to learn to deal with the lack of nicotine. But I no longer wanted smoking to control me. I instantly went from being a SMOKER to being a NON-SMOKER. I went through the long period of adjustment, wore the patch, and went through withdrawal. But I knew that this would be the best thing for me".)

Once again, doing the hard work of talking to yourself is the absolute BEST thing you could do for yourself... until, of course, you decide to cut away all other options and DECIDE to change your life for the better.

THERE IS HELP to create new, healthy habits, investigate new daily routines, deal with your stress management, time-management, develop better eating, and find an exercise program which can prolong your health for years to come.

If you decide that you don't want to continue your "identities" which aren't helping you, or your "sedentary addictions" which are actually killing you, your life will thank you --- a thousand fold.

You may actually get your life back.

-----------------------------

Wow, tough article, huh?

Yeah. I guess that's what people call "tough love"... it's also called the truth.... and it's also called OFFERING A LIFELINE.

I'm not trying to call you lazy or any other name. I'm just trying to offer you a SOLUTION to what you already know you are doing to yourself.

It's up to you... to keep your identity of LAZINESS or to become someone you've always wanted to be.

Get coached into a better life... or be inspired by people who have already done the same.

---------------------------

* NOTE:
This article nor coaching can take the place of true clinical therapy in the case of emotional or mental issues. Coaching is meant as an adjunct to the personal development process, with specialization in fitness techniques. By saying "just change", I mean that an emotionally healthy individual has the capability of going from thinking he can never get over laziness to realizing that he doesn't have to stay that way.

For more ideas on fitness, health, or "alternative" methods for your lifestyle, contact Lauren for coaching solutions!

ENJOY!