Behavior Modification is Bad for My (Mental) Well-Being
There are certain truths I may not like but accept:
A healthful diet is good.
Diet alone does not do the trick. Hence, grueling exercise.
Alcohol is (supposedly) only good in moderation.
Smoking is (supposedly) not good, even in moderation.
Stress is bad and one should do whatever it takes to lead a stres-free life.
I get it, believe me. And I do my part to try keep all factors well-balanced in my life. Note the key word in that sentence: try.
I am good about going to the doctor for the annual work-up. I actually thought yesterday's visit would be a good one, and was confident of that. Apparently, I was wrong.
First question posed by Dr. C: "Tell me, how are things?"
Hmmm... We never start this way, which tipped me off to the fact that the nurse's precursory report couldn't have been a good one.
My response was something along the lines of: "Good...status quo...Let's not beat around the bush; be more specific, please."
Dr. C: "Are you under a lot of...stress?"
Well, that gets to the heart of the matter. I wanted to respond sarcastically; tell her that mine was the most stres-free of lives and what would ever make her think that I have an ounce of the hated feeling flowing through me...But decided that a calm and honest response was more helpful.
"Of course I'm stressed," I told her. "Work is stressful. I now I have a mortgage and bills and who doesn't worry about that? And let's not even go into the personal life. And being at a doctor's office- the one where I generally get some piece of not-so-great news with every annual visit? Yeah, that's a huge piece of it, too."
The great thing about Dr. C is she gets it. But it didn't change the bad status report. Blood pressure? Through the roof. Formerly barely existent heart murmur? Pronounced. Weight gain, dehydration, increased seasonal allergies, 70% chance of contracting diabetes thanks to lovely family legacy... The good news kept flowing.
The great thing about Dr. C is she doesn't believe in just writing out a few prescriptions and saying see ya next year. I love that about her. She's all about behavior modification first. And I understand it and think it makes sense as a first step.
Caffeine intake (which is generally pretty limited) will be cut drastically (good-bye frequent Starbucks trips).
Tasty libations will be brought down to a minimum (I will really miss you, Bud Light, but my waist line may thank you).
Which means that those few smokes should be- need to be- cut as well (bad left-over college habit, I must bid you adieu).
Exercise and healthy eating- taken care of already, but I guess I need to take a better look at the greater scheme of things and see if there is anything I can modify there.
There's not much else I can do about the personal or work life. It is what it is. I have no complaints about either aspect of my life, but work especially is high-paced and carries a decent dose of stress. I will be searching for decompression methods, I'm sure.
And then...I wait. Just for two weeks, and then we see what the bp looks like...and then we take next steps. In the meantime, I'm sure all of these changes will be good for me on other levels as well.
I started the behavior modification thing today. Why wait?
One cup of coffee in the morning. Acceptable.
NO alcohol on the company summer outing today (with open bar for the entire three hours, this pained me).
No alcohol tonight (I don't miss it. I'm tired anyway and have a big day tomorrow, so this was a good move).
Decaf coffee instead (me not being decaf drinker, I can say it wasn't half bad).
Thinking all of these things through- making these very conscious choices... It was more stressful than just living my life as I have been! Admittedly, I was snippy and possibly bitchy and definitely tired and perhap a bit crabby. But...I didn't falter during day one, and if I can handle the mental turmoil, this behavior modification thing may be a good thing on so many different levels.
A healthful diet is good.
Diet alone does not do the trick. Hence, grueling exercise.
Alcohol is (supposedly) only good in moderation.
Smoking is (supposedly) not good, even in moderation.
Stress is bad and one should do whatever it takes to lead a stres-free life.
I get it, believe me. And I do my part to try keep all factors well-balanced in my life. Note the key word in that sentence: try.
I am good about going to the doctor for the annual work-up. I actually thought yesterday's visit would be a good one, and was confident of that. Apparently, I was wrong.
First question posed by Dr. C: "Tell me, how are things?"
Hmmm... We never start this way, which tipped me off to the fact that the nurse's precursory report couldn't have been a good one.
My response was something along the lines of: "Good...status quo...Let's not beat around the bush; be more specific, please."
Dr. C: "Are you under a lot of...stress?"
Well, that gets to the heart of the matter. I wanted to respond sarcastically; tell her that mine was the most stres-free of lives and what would ever make her think that I have an ounce of the hated feeling flowing through me...But decided that a calm and honest response was more helpful.
"Of course I'm stressed," I told her. "Work is stressful. I now I have a mortgage and bills and who doesn't worry about that? And let's not even go into the personal life. And being at a doctor's office- the one where I generally get some piece of not-so-great news with every annual visit? Yeah, that's a huge piece of it, too."
The great thing about Dr. C is she gets it. But it didn't change the bad status report. Blood pressure? Through the roof. Formerly barely existent heart murmur? Pronounced. Weight gain, dehydration, increased seasonal allergies, 70% chance of contracting diabetes thanks to lovely family legacy... The good news kept flowing.
The great thing about Dr. C is she doesn't believe in just writing out a few prescriptions and saying see ya next year. I love that about her. She's all about behavior modification first. And I understand it and think it makes sense as a first step.
Caffeine intake (which is generally pretty limited) will be cut drastically (good-bye frequent Starbucks trips).
Tasty libations will be brought down to a minimum (I will really miss you, Bud Light, but my waist line may thank you).
Which means that those few smokes should be- need to be- cut as well (bad left-over college habit, I must bid you adieu).
Exercise and healthy eating- taken care of already, but I guess I need to take a better look at the greater scheme of things and see if there is anything I can modify there.
There's not much else I can do about the personal or work life. It is what it is. I have no complaints about either aspect of my life, but work especially is high-paced and carries a decent dose of stress. I will be searching for decompression methods, I'm sure.
And then...I wait. Just for two weeks, and then we see what the bp looks like...and then we take next steps. In the meantime, I'm sure all of these changes will be good for me on other levels as well.
I started the behavior modification thing today. Why wait?
One cup of coffee in the morning. Acceptable.
NO alcohol on the company summer outing today (with open bar for the entire three hours, this pained me).
No alcohol tonight (I don't miss it. I'm tired anyway and have a big day tomorrow, so this was a good move).
Decaf coffee instead (me not being decaf drinker, I can say it wasn't half bad).
Thinking all of these things through- making these very conscious choices... It was more stressful than just living my life as I have been! Admittedly, I was snippy and possibly bitchy and definitely tired and perhap a bit crabby. But...I didn't falter during day one, and if I can handle the mental turmoil, this behavior modification thing may be a good thing on so many different levels.
2 Comments:
Good on ya! You go girl. Keep up the good work.....it only takes 3 weeks to make things a habit. You can do it.
By
Elle Starr, at 7:16 PM
It's like working out. When I fall off the wagon so to speak, it takes me awhile to get back into the routine. The first week sucks. By week two I'm in a groove and by week three I can't imagine not doing it. Elle's right...good luck!
By
RockerMom, at 6:39 PM
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