Have you ever wanted something really bad and your friends and family don’t support you?
What I want to share with you is a challenge that I hear about a lot from my friends and clients. It is that they have a strong desire or goal and the important people in their lives do not support them. Their loved ones may even try and sabotage things, so that it seems impossible to even achieve that goal.
I remember very clearly when my ex-husband, who knew I wanted to lose weight, would bring home Haggen-Dazs ice cream for us. It was so hard to turn that down and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. So I would eat it. But, looking back, in fact, he was sabotaging my weight loss goals.
Here are 3 scenarios we may encounter:
1. We want to lose weight, reverse prediabetes or diabetes or just generally want to make dietary changes to achieve better health and our loved one pooh-poohs the ideas and even brings home sweet treats that tempt us.
2. We want to explore changing jobs, starting a business, or retiring or going part-time and our loved one says no, downplays the important of the idea and may not even want to hear about it.
3. We want to make a change in our relationship or look for a new relationship and our partner or family doesn’t want to hear about it.
Can you relate to any of these scenarios? I bet you can. I’ve experienced all of them.
So, what can we do when we encounter these roadblocks to our goals?
First, recognize that we may not be able to change their minds about the situation or their behavior. It may be sad, but true. As many times as we talk with them about what we want and how they can support us, they may not change.
But, despite that, you can change your mind about the situation and take action anyway. If you are serious about your goal, then you can develop a plan to counteract the roadblock.
What will you say or do if they bring home ice cream again?
What will you do if you have job interviews set up, but your partner is consistently late getting home and there is no one to watch the kids while you go to the interview?
What will you do if your partner isn’t willing to talk about making changes in your relationship or your friends laugh when you say you are ready to find a partner?
Recently, I was a guest on career coach Lesa Edwards’ podcast talking about this very situation of what to do when your significant others don’t support you in your goals. This particular episode is about unsupportive family and friends in the job search, but the discussion could apply to any similar situation. Here is the link to that episode. It’s a good one:
https://exclusivecareercoaching.com/posts/2022-04-13-222-how-to-deal-with-unsupportive-family-friends-during-your-job-search-with-jane-springer
Navigating through these roadblocks of unsupportive family and friends is what I do with my clients. We work together to come up with strategies and use tools to make those changes, despite the opposition. It is so gratifying to see them move forward to release the weight, lower their blood sugar, find a new job or create peace around their relationships.
If any of this resonates, just contact me at jane@janespringer.com and we’ll chat about your challenges. You can overcome the roadblocks!
In love and life,
Jane
Jane Springer is a certified Life, Wellness and Style Coach who assists women in taking care of themselves, in body, mind and spirit. She coaches women who want to lose weight, avoid diabetes, and feel great. She also helps them thrive after divorce. She also helps them to clear their closets of old clothes and outdated attitudes, so they can shine and feel confident.