Who's Responsible For Your Health?

Your health is your responsibility. It’s not mine, your neighbor’s or the government's. 

It is 100% yours. 

You are responsible for it. 

Don’t shrug off that responsibility or give it away. 

Own it. 

After all, you’re the one who has to live with it day in and day out. 

The sooner you accept this, the sooner you can start making the changes necessary to ensure that you’re in the best possible shape. 

Before you get to the changes in diet, exercise, and routine, you’ve got to tackle this change of mindset. 

As long as you think your health is someone else’s responsibility you’ll never grow or improve. In short, you’ll be stuck with the same health issues you’ve always had. 

3 Takeaways From Watching What The Health

I sat down to watch What The Health yesterday afternoon. I found it disgusting, shameful and shocking—and not for the reasons you may assume.

For those of you unaware What The Health is the newest in a long line of documentaries discussing the gross and cringeworthy aspects of the American diet. WTH focused their attention on overturning the tables of the meat and dairy industries. 

I’m not here to convince you one way or the other. I don’t think this documentary is the greatest thing ever, or the worst thing imaginable. As with most things, it lands somewhere in the middle. Bottomline: You’re going to have to make up your own mind about the diet choices you make. That’s 100% up to you. 

What I do want to share with you are three takeaways from the film. We can all walk away from this documentary thinking and united on at least three things: 

1. There is a link between what we eat and our health. This isn’t groundbreaking or even new information. Far too few of us make decisions that reflect a deep understanding of this link. I know I haven’t. If we pause long enough to think we’ll see that the link between how we feel, the measure of life we experience and its length are all directly linked to the things we put into our bodies. 

2. There are some serious concerns with the meat industry. The meat, dairy, and egg industries have truly appalling practices that need to be addressed. The issues go far beyond the treatment of animals—which is an issue requiring serious thought and action—to include the items injected into the foods we consume. It is hard to square these practices with what ethics and sanity would call us to.   

3. You must take ownership of your own health. Regardless of where you land on the issue of nutrition and the great meat debate, your health is your responsibility. You can’t sit back, take it easy and pass the buck. Your health is no one else's responsibility. It’s something you have to seize control of. Your choices and decisions are yours to make. Do with them what you will, but don’t blame anyone but yourself for how things turn out. 

Lead With Your Weaknesses

You're not perfect. Whether it's sarcasam, responding out of anger or not delivering on your commitments, you make dozens of mistakes each and every day. The temptation to hide and minimize your mistakes is overwhelming because the first thing you want to do is run as far from them as possible. 

While this is your natural tendency it might not always be the best strategy for responding to failure. Our failures provide us with an opportunity to take giant steps forward and helps us connect with others. Today, I want to encourage you not to run from or hide your failures but to embrace and share them openly. 

Display your authentic self. Openly discussing your short comings and failures knocks down the dividing wall and allows others to connect with you. Whether you are aware of it or not there is a dividing wall between you and those you impact and lead. Often times that wall of division is the gap between who you truly are and others perception of you. The quickest way to shrink this gap is to authentically share your struggles and failures. The fear in doing so is that it will change how people see you. The funny thing is that this fear is 100% true. They will see you differently, just not in the way you fear they will. 

Part of the reason people lean in and see you more positively when you share your struggles is that they can relate. People aren't perfect and they know it. They already know you aren't perfect either and that you make mistakes because you're human. Opening up and leading with your weakness displays confidence not the lack there of. People will follow a leader who doesn't run from his short comings. 

Be known for owning your stuff. The next time you drop the ball or just blow it, seize it for the opportunity that it is and own it. Do far more than acknowledge that you messed up, ask those impacted by your failure to forgive you. Trust me, this is a trait you want to be known for. It displays a humble heart, empowers others and will transform your relationships.