Well, you see, you don’t. You don’t ever have to explain yourself in what you’re choosing to do. Whether it be with food. Exercise. Your job. Or how you raise your kids.
You don’t hurt other people’s feelings. They hurt their feelings. Only you can control your own.
And we could end this blog post here. Yet if you’re just warming up to this idea, read on.
Now there are typically 2 situations when others start to ask WHY you might be doing something (outside the norm). And for the people who are genuinely curious about it, then feel free to explain what you’re doing and why if you so choose. Or not, and move on.
For the person who may be coming from a place of insecurity and making comments like, “Come on, life is short”, or “Just have a drink, enjoy yourself”, “you’re not going to let your kid have a little cake?” (and so on and so forth), then you really don’t need to explain yourself, and “No thank you”, is a complete sentence. Stay confident and firm.
It can be as simple as that, so long as you know you are in control of how you feel about it and how they may react. This takes practice, be bold.
From there you have a few options if you do want to have something else to say, and are perhaps warming up to the idea mentioned above:
“That doesn’t make me feel good.”
“I’d like to sleep well tonight and with X, I don’t sleep well.”
“I’d rather enjoy the tasty meat and veggies (or XYZ) instead.”
“I’m doing an experiment and seeing if I leave X out of my diet, if I feel better.”
“I get diarrhea when I eat that” (if you really want someone to leave you alone)
If you do go the second route of leaving a small explanation, then know, the simpler and shorter the better. No need to explain further!
Now if a friend or family member is really giving you a hard time on a consistent basis, then there are some other options. You can of course give a full explanation if you want to, and tell them why you’re doing what you’re doing – what pain you’re experiencing, or what joy you WANT to experience. Or you can start asking them questions, “Are you concerned about me?”, “What’s the concern?”. “I appreciate the concern but I’m doing this FOR my health and well being and I feel good with my choices.”
And done! If this still plagues you, ask yourself if 1. you want to be around these people anymore, and 2. Why does it bother you so much?
Do you have any other situations that come up and you are wondering how to go about it? Shoot us an email (team@proclivity.co) or message us on IG @proclivity.co
