How to Motivate Your Loved Ones to Pursue A Healthylifestyle Without Upsetting Them

Recently I was asked this question, "How do you motivate the people closest to you to pursue a healthy lifestyle without upsetting them?" Great question, right? My initial reaction was that sometimes you really can't. A healthy lifestyle is a delicate topic and it is generally emotionally charged. No one wants to think about losing someone they love because they could have taken better care of themselves. Even I, as a health and wellness professional, have friends that rage against the machine. They smoke, are sedentary and eat horribly. It's not as if they don't know what I do for a living! I have tried on a number of occasions to tactfully approach the subject and generally the comments I get are, "Aren't you off tonight?", or "I'm not a client, you know...", or worse...you haven't met my friends and family...

Comments like these have led me to another approach...acceptance. I love my friends and my family and of course I want them to live the best healthy & well lives they can, but I cannot want it for them. They have to want it themselves. I have said time and again, if you push someone into wellness, even if they begin the exercise routines and try to eat better, without the emotional and mental commitment, the changes wont last. The person doesn't see the new changes as lifestyle improvements, they see them as tedious, hated chores and given a choice, no one does chores.

One piece of advice I would offer, is to lead by example. If you are leading a healthy life, perhaps your friends and loved ones will see the improvements in you and want some of the positive changes themselves.

One of the greatest client stories I was told was when a client told me that after working together for about 6 months she was approached by a neighbor who asked my client what she had been doing to look so terrific. My client answered by reviewing some of the fitness routines and goal setting techniques we worked on and the holistic food choices she was now making. Her neighbor simply smiled and told my client she inspired her to begin a walking routine of her own. My client was so happy, she had never realized she was an inspiration of that sort.

Her story reminded me that it isn't necessarily the way we speak of health & wellness but the way we live it...with hopes of having others join in it with us. Until next time, Be well.