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Wants Parents To Be More Active - Read the Advice

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Dear IDKWTDA,

I applaud your commitment to the fit lifestyle! You're a girl after my own heart. I can tell you from experience though, you can give others all the information you have about the benefits of working out, but if they're not willing to do the work, you can't force them.

Being an exercise devotee is sort of like being religious. Just like a religious person, you are free to practice what you believe as much as you want, since it's only affecting you. You can also share your beliefs with others, in the hope that they will experience the happiness that you have found through your way of life. But it is really not okay to try and force people to do what you're doing, or make them feel like bad people for not doing what you do, even if you truly believe that they're on the road to a bad end.

I know you love your parents and want them to be healthier for their own sake, but life is too short for all these arguments with the people you love best. You are very clear about your own approach to life, and your parents are clear about how they prefer to lead their (lazier) way of life. You need to accept that you cannot change that, even by pushing, so you might as well stop, before the stress starts affecting YOUR blood pressure and makes you unhealthy.

Keep setting a great example by being your active self. Encourage small changes, if you are doing it with them, such as taking the stairs instead of an escalator when you're at the mall, or walking to the store a block away instead of taking the car. For every minor activity they do, praise the heck out of them, and tell them how proud you are. But don't be too pushy with them, or act like their nagging conscience. Believe it not, they both have one already, and like most people, they are probably more likely to make changes when it is their own idea, not somebody else's.

 



 

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