Quit Playing The Blame Game

Remember when we were 7 years old? At that age, any insult (no
matter how mean or despicable) could instantly be nullified by
simply replying “I’m rubber, you’re glue….whatever you say
bounces off me and sticks on you!”

Even though we’re not seven years old anymore, insults still
aren’t any fun. Many of us thought we’d outgrow name-calling and
the ‘blame game’, but here we are, fully grown adults, still
playing those games.

We may not all be calling each other names, but many of us are
still playing the ‘blame game’. We blame others for our weight
gain. We blame others for our failed diet. We blame others for
our perceived failures. But are others at fault?

Sometimes what we say to others ‘bounces off them and sticks on
us’, to paraphrase the old rhyme.

While we’ll admit that genetics do play a huge role in our
weight, it’s also true that each of us makes daily choices that
impact the number on the scale.

So who (or what?) are we blaming for our weight? Genetics? Fast
food? A busy lifestyle? Ice cream? Family? Work?

The bottom line is that while we may be able to legitimately
blame someone (or something) else for our current weight, we are
all in control of our future weight.

Each of us knows how we arrived at our current weight. Perhaps
we’ve always been heavy. Perhaps that weight crept on during the
last few years. Or, maybe, we were thin until we hit age _____
and then the pounds started piling on. However we arrived at our
current weight, the fact is that we’re here. We cannot change
the past. But, we do have control over the future.

No matter how hard we try, we can’t change what we ate
yesterday. In the same way, we cannot go back in time and alter
the amount of exercise we got yesterday. The past is behind us.

But the good news is that the future hasn’t happened yet. Each
of us can choose to eat better tomorrow. Each of us can choose
to exercise tomorrow.

For many Americans, a major reason why we’re are not getting
thinner is our tendency to get ‘stuck in the past’. Too many of
us are wasting our time trying to place the blame for our weight
on someone else, rather than planning to do something about it.

A perfect example are the lawsuits now pending against fast food
restaurants. Thousands of people in the United States have
decided that fast food restaurants are to blame for their
weight. Are they right? Maybe, but probably not. This article
isn’t the place to judge whether or not restaurants are to blame
for the obesity epidemic in our nation. Instead, the point we
need to learn here is that if we want to get results, we must
stop worrying about the past and start living for the future.

So, while some of us may have legitimate complaints about the
past, let’s ask ourselves if that really matters. Life isn’t
fair. Some of us are genetically inclined to be heavy, just as
some of us are genetically inclined to get cancer. Either way,
it’s not fair. But rather than throw up our hands in dispair and
give up all hope, let’s take control of our future!!

Remember that we cannot change our past but we all have some
degree of control over our future.

The moral of the story is to start today. Sure, maybe we’ve
skipped a few (or a few dozen) workouts. Sure, maybe we ate four
servings of cheesecake yesterday. We can’t change the past, so
let’s focus on the future.

The past may be full of bad diets, skipped workouts and
expanding waistlines…..but the future is yet to come. Let’s
stop the blame, take control of our future, and get busy. It’s
our choice.

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