All the Feels & Why They Matter
In last month’s blog we looked at objective data for the markers of metabolic syndrome. Things like blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol levels and waist circumference are factors that can be measured, are quantifiable in nature and are important when it comes to assessing your health. When we shift to subjective data, we dip into areas that are a bit more gray. For instance pain, which was once considered the “fifth vital sign” is subjective. While pain scales are used to help quantify the level of pain, it is not something the clinician can measure like blood pressure or heart rate. The data is provided by the patient and is based on the perception of the patient.
Subjective data is gathered by asking questions about how an individual feels and their perceptions. When it comes to health and wellness, this type of information can be invaluable. The importance of how we perceive our health and how much control we feel we have over it are powerful factors of behavior change. How motivated we are to make change, the confidence we have in our ability to make change, and what we believe will be the effects of our efforts can all greatly influence how and when we take action and the consistency of those actions. As a health coach, while I inquire about the objective data, much of my time is focused on the subjective data. Our thoughts and feelings about the objective data can be the fuel for motivation and taking action.
For better or worse, we are emotional creatures. While we may try to convince ourselves we can remove emotion and be completely rational (which is ironic since it’s irrational more often than not) it is usually emotions that drive our decisions. We can be told our blood sugar is high or our cholesterol levels are high and while we know these numbers represent an increased risk for diabetes and heart disease, it doesn’t always translate to us taking action. Part of the reason might lie in that while we logically know the numbers indicate increased risk, we don’t feel bad as these conditions can often be present without symptoms. Lifestyle modification is often the very first line of recommended treatment and a key piece of prevention for many health conditions and yet, so many of us struggle to make changes in these areas. On the surface, our doctor’s advice to eat better or exercise more may sound simple enough but making those changes is more difficult and may contribute to some of the frustration around taking action. The truth is changing behavior can feel really HARD. While some behavior changes may come easily, most of us have struggled with this at some point in our lives.
It can be easy to beat ourselves up over not exercising more, eating better, or drinking more water because it’s just a matter of doing it…right? If only it was as logical as a simple math problem. If you are looking to make change(s) in the name of your health and are finding it difficult, you might give some consideration to these questions to gain a better understanding of where the gap between knowing what you want to do and doing it lies.
What makes this change important to me?
How confident am I in my ability to make this change?
What are the pros/cons of making change(s)?
What does support look like to help with this change?
What makes this change feel difficult?
How can I make it feel easier?
What feels like the smallest/easiest change I can implement right now that still feels meaningful?
These are just a few questions you might consider if you’ve been toying with taking the first step or if you feel like you’ve tried a hundred times before. I encourage you to proceed with patience, self-compassion and curiosity. Making change(s) can be more like a science experiment rather than a math problem. It can be a series of attempts with different strategies to find the one that best works for you, and your feelings and thoughts are the variables. I hope these questions evoke some good conversation with yourself. If you’d like to walk through them together, click here to schedule a time to chat.