Cognitive dissonance, the term, can apply in many situations in…
Fanatic about Maintaining the Right to be Fanatic
Fanatics of Anything are a Turnoff.
The one thing we should be a fantastic fanatic about is retaining the freedom to BE a fanatic if we want to be fanatic.
I’ve found that the best way for me to be an effective trainer and teacher is to avoid being a fanatic. I create an onramp for my people to want to try to improve their health from wherever they are. I’ve been at every level of health and fitness from size 44 to size 0, and fitness level from “I can’t get off the couch” to a zillion marathons. I don’t judge or expect my clients to instantly change into me, nor do I want them to. People are very honest with me about what they want to change and are ready to try, and together we agree, and I find it works well. Fanatics often create stress and many times it’s just a turn off.
I know and love a lot of people that love to do their own thing; thought leaders, different paths, cultures, religions, yoga styles, climate preferences, city vs. country, etc.
When it comes to my job as health leader, I lead by example and I make suggestions about what I have found to be the healthiest choices. I don’t expect people to breathe like I breathe, eat like I eat or work out like I work out. I’m vegan but my clients are not. I didn’t grow up vegan and it was not an immediate transition. I’m not expecting or demanding that anyone will eat like I eat. I want to encourage people to improve their health, with any baby step, from wherever they are.
Let’s explore being fanatic about being able to be fanatic. When I’m wearing my designer multi colored yoga pants, and drinking a green smoothie and eating a kale salad in public after doing bootcamp, chi gung, yoga meditation chanting or praying on the beach in the morning, I have to remember that we are living in a place where we can do that. If my boob falls out of my shirt it’s only a fashion crime.
We have the freedom to do standing sun salutation yoga in our public and state parks. That’s not ok everywhere in the world. We can easily be wearing a What Would Jesus Do, Rastafarian, or IDF shirt, and fall into the Hare Krishna parade in Venice Beach with no issues. We can become fanatic about any of those groups. People tend to get fanatic about the details without looking at the big picture.
Though we have some legal limits here in the USA, generally:
We can eat whatever we want. We can wear whatever we want. We can study whatever we want. We can march for whatever we want. We can exercise almost anywhere. We can choose any partner we want. We can have a pet if we want. We can be any religion we want. Let’s ponder being fanatic about maintaining the ability to be fanatic, rather than turning people off by being fanatic.
I eat seaweed now and I didn’t used to, and some of it I still don’t love. If someone had been fanatic about making me eat seaweed I would have never tried a veggie roll. Now I like veggie rolls that are rolled in nori seaweed. I would never expect you to like them, because I remember that I didn’t always like them and that’s cool. I will still be your friend if you don’t like seaweed. It’s good for us and I can explain that and invite you to try some, but I would be fanatic to expect you to like and do everything I like and do. That’s boring and ridiculous.
Nobody teaches LOVE with HATE. We can’t turn people onto things with shoving.
I’ve seen it with food and fitness and even yoga. Fanatics can be judgy and downright mean to the people who don’t do what they do or believe what they believe (right?). We are not encouraging health or compassionate eating, for example, by judging.
Freedom is a much more important issue to be fanatic about.
Retaining our freedom to be fanatic, if we want to be fanatic, is fantastic.
Want to Know More?
michele@michelethetrainer.com
877-409-1758
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