Gotta Look Good!!

How about, "Gotta FEEL Good!" Why do we put more energy into our physical appearance than our emotional wellness?
 
Ever notice how much advertisements focus on physical wellness? Diets, gyms, protein bars, healthy drinks of all shapes and forms, groceries, muscle milk and the list goes on and on. Why? Because they’re “the only body we have!” That’s one of my favorite phrases that comes out of the mouth of a client who is struggling with addiction. They come to a rehabilitation program and all of a sudden, focus all of their energies into building up their physical wellness when 2 weeks prior they had been almost dead from Heroin and Meth use (fill in the blank on whatever drug/alcohol it happens to be). There are a lot of therapy/external validation tangents I could go on but instead let me ask a question -
Do you think they stayed clean after leaving? You know the answer.
 
I wonder how much different this world would be if we put more importance/energy/time into our emotional health? How would life be different had we been taught at a young age the reasons why we felt sad, stressed and anxious. If you think about it, we understand at a YOUNG age that when we see blood, we tell someone and get help (clean it and cover it with a band aid). But what about when we get hurt emotionally? Yea, there’s really no teachings or emotional procedures taught to caregivers. Instead, we rely on what we learned from our own caregivers who – frankly, didn’t know anything. “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” Sound familiar? I’m sure you can think of your own familiar phrases used by caregivers who were just clueless as to how to help or comfort emotional pain as our culture.
 
This is not a ‘blame’ blog. Rather, it’s intended to be an “explain” blog.
 
Here’s what I’d like to see.

1. Advertisements to see your therapist regularly. “If you’re unable to maintain emotional joy and happiness on a semi-consistent basis, see your therapist.” Wouldn’t that be a great commercial slogan or something? I can almost hear it now.
2. Free classes on parenting.
3. A marketing campaign focused on NORMALIZING even the thought of having a therapist. This is getting better in the last 10 years but it’s been a stigma in the past. Why? Because of the old-school thought that if you’re feeling unhappy – it means you’re weak, damaged, not strong enough/broken...

If you ask me, being ‘weak’ is actually not showing emotion. Not being vulnerable and open is actually the easy way and here’s why – being vulnerable and open to where uncomfortable feelings is – well, it's not something that we typically want to jump in to so instead we take the easy way out and stuff it down.

In other words, it takes more strength and courage to talk about emotions than it does to act like you don’t have any.
 
As a culture, it'd be wise to start putting focus on emotional intelligence and health ABOVE our physical awesomeness (or lack thereof). Otherwise, we’re setting ourselves up for a really shallow and unfulfilling life. Maybe I shouldn't be saying this because if you think about it - I'm potentially blogging/youtubing/therapatizing my way out of a job.

Wouldn't that be wonderful?
 
These are my thoughts on a Thursday.
Till Next time,
 
Jed