If you’ve read any of my posts, you know that I talk a lot about plant-based nutrition. In this post I want to talk about our mental health. I believe that what we eat can pay huge dividends or completely wreck our health. The same can be said about our mental health. A healthy mind can lead to a healthy life and vice versa. As a Certified Health Coach, I work with clients to improve both their nutritional and mental health so that they can live life to the fullest.
Going on social media and watching the news, makes me realize how many people live under a “bubble,” and just how limiting and mentally unhealthy this is. I’m not referring to soap bubbles we blew through wands as kids. I’m talking about living under invisible bubbles that shape our thoughts, actions and who we decide to unfriend on Facebook. It’s almost like being in a cult where only one way of being is acceptable.
Picture a world filled with domed, glass structures resembling bubbles. What the bubbles have in common are people who only want to associate with others who think, act, worship, eat, exercise and vote like them. There are left wing, right wing, religious and tribal bubbles. Anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers have theirs. We can’t leave out the conspiracy theory junkies and the “you’re rewriting my history” folks. As a guy who identifies as being a liberal and an environmentalist among other things, I’m not immune from living in a bubble. There are times when I have to step outside for some perspective, but I proudly live under the Las Vegas Raiders football bubble and I’m never coming out!
The glass on the bubbles might be clear, but inside the inhabitants have become blinded to the world around them, and seem afraid to have honest dialog with those on the outside. Questions become confrontations. An unhealthy mindset sets in where people outside of one’s one bubble, are looked upon with suspicion and mistrust. Mental health can suffer and ultimately humanity can be lost.
“There are many realities. There are many versions of what may appear obvious. Whatever appears as the unshakeable truth, its exact opposite may also be true in another context. After all, one's reality is but perception, viewed through various prisms of context.” ― Amish Tripathi, The Immortals of Meluha
The vast majority of my clients are not vegan like me. Although eating plant-based has been proven by science to be the healthiest diet, I don’t judge them and throw being a vegan in their faces. I’d just be living under a bubble. My clients are humans just like me, who have their own beliefs and opinions. I honor them and simply encourage them to eat more plants. However, when I encountered people who live under a paleo, keto or gluten-free bubble, they insists that theirs is the ONLY way to eat! Science will disagree, but living in a bubble leaves no room for disagreement or exploration.
I remember when a trainer that I work with and I, were once asked to speak with a class of aspiring trainers at a local community college. Another trainer from a different gym was asked to speak to them as well. When they asked questions about eating, she practically shouted at them that the ONLY way to eat was paleo. This trainer had no science to backup what she was insisting. Her bubble had distorted her vision so much, that she did the class a disservice. Instead of honoring their questions and offering guidance, she was too busy pushing her agenda. But, that’s life inside a bubble.
In the world of exercise, man-oh-man, there are many bubbles. I know people who do cross fit and think that there’s no other way to exercise. There are bubbles for bodybuilders, powerlifters and HIIT devotees. Rarely do the crowds mix. There are thousands of videos and books dedicated to selling you on a particular way of exercising. When clients ask me what they should do for exercise, for starters I usually say, “The one you will stick with!”
Living under a bubble can be comforting. There’s plenty of company and you don’t have to think for yourself. For those folks who are curious about life in other bubbles, I encourage you to first step outside of your own bubble and try to see the world differently. In this digital divide, the challenge becomes how to see beyond the memes, tweets, texts, and emails to get to meaningful conversations with those you don’t agree with.
"We're one people, and we all live in the same house. Not the American house, but the world house." John Lewis, Former U.S. Representative
Be bold and don’t be afraid to grow! You’ll probably find common ground on which to start building empathy and understanding. Regardless of the outcome, you will have at least made the effort to see things from someone else’s perspective, and perhaps have opened their eyes to another way of thinking. Bubbles are beautiful to look at and fun to blow, but are not meant to live under. Stepping outside can propel your life forward, and put you into a more positive mental state, which can’t help but lead to a healthier, happier life.
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