Saying Yes to Everything but yourself

By: Michael Beiter

One of my clients is 31 years old, just bought his third home, upgraded from his first, and owns a rental property.

“My wife and I are making more money than ever; it’s great! We drive around the nicer neighborhoods for inspiration to work hard so that one day we can afford to live there. We came across one that seemed perfect, so we put an offer in, and it got accepted!” he said.

This guy has been busy all summer. He had to deal with a close family death that shook things up big time, and he and his wife are trying to start a family.

Naturally, he had difficulty keeping up his exercise and food logging practices.

So I started in:

'“What if you shopped bodies or medical charts like you do houses? I’m not a huge fan of Instagram, but seeing fit people inspires others to work hard to stay fit themselves. Medical charts aren’t readily available for everyone to see, but I have dozens of healthy clients who share their numbers all the time. It keeps them motivated, and they are proud of what they maintain. I get that you were busy; everyone on this planet can play the busy card to explain away their behaviors. What I want to point out is simple:

If you are saying yes to this, what are you saying no to?

Based on what you told me, you’re saying yes to more work, more time seated in front of your computer, more money, more house, and more land. You said yes to handling someone else’s problem because you’re a good person, but that required a lot of energy and attention. All of these Yes’ meant you said No to a daily workout, macro tracking, losing body fat, and healthier biomarkers.

You’re a giver, I understand that, and there’s no shame in that game until you give so much that you have nothing left for yourself. That’s where you’re at now, and if you continue down that road, you will be another statistic in the sea of unhealthy, overweight Americans who may have a lot of square footage, toys, cars, and such to show for their efforts but rely on a handful of medications and the healthcare system to take care of them.

In a very real way, you are sacrificing your health for wealth, and once you finally get wealthy, you will have to turn around and use that wealth to buy back your health. I hope you see the futility of this way of living. It’s difficult to reject because it’s the dominant way to live in this country, but if you want to reap health rewards, you must start saying NO to others and YES to yourself more. I am suggesting you live counter-culturally. I am suggesting you become an anarchist and reject the shitty values and ethics we are taught in this country.

Will you take my suggestion? It’s simple, but not easy. Ope, we’re out of time; talk to you in a month :)”