Pop Quiz – Describe You

Are you ready?  Pop Quiz!!!

Get out a pen and a piece of paper.  Ready?  I want you to write down 10 adjectives that you would use to describe yourself to me.  For purposes of this quiz, assume that we have never met, nor seen a picture of each other.  The 10 adjectives are to let me meet, see you, and know you for the first time.

If you want to cut/paste this post, go ahead.  Ready?  Start now!

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

You’re done.  Now, read those words back to yourself.  What do you think as you review them?  Do they describe you accurately?  Are they fair assessments to describe you?  Are they positive or negative?  Are they words that someone close to you would use to describe you?

What amazes me is that regardless of whether a person is seeking to lose 10 pounds or over 100, if they are focused only or predominantly on their body, the adjectives selected are most often negative and self-depreciating.

The reason for this is because we are so upset with our weight that we allow the ‘fat’ to cloud our vision and we fail to see all of the other wonderful qualities that we posses.  Our weight becomes our identity not only outside ourselves but inside too.  You are not your body.  Being overweight is not a personality defect or trait.  Your weight is not your identity or who you are as a person.  Truly, your weight says nothing about the true you.  When my clients take this quiz, one of the adjectives has something to do with weight and/or body size to describe themselves.

Losing weight and regaining our lives in a healthy way are very important.  In some ways, it is primary as we are creating healthy habits until they become second nature.  However, it is not your identity.  It doesn’t define who and what you are.  If you are overweight, that does not describe you as a person.  To allow our weight and body size to be all encompassing in our lives and the reason for your thoughts and day in, day out living, that isn’t true.

With her permission, I share this with you.  I had a client once send her list to me and it contained all 10 items as Obese, Obese, Obese, Obese, Obese, Obese, Obese, Obese, Obese, Obese.  I returned her e-mail and told her that was how she described her body but told me a big zero of who she is.

Do you see what a huge difference there is?  She finally did.  After a few weeks, she returned her list to me with the new words that described HER which were:  Sensitive, Thoughtful, Kind, Bright, Spiritual, Introspective, Loyal, Persistent, Ambitious, Insightful.  As I read those words, I knew that she is someone that I would want to know and have in my life.  Obese x 10 told me nothing.

The simple exercise of listing 10 adjectives about her as a person was a catalyst to her changing her life.  She no longer defined herself as obese but saw herself as a person with the qualities and characteristics, appreciated her values and saw herself in an entirely different way.  It was as though she was a stranger to herself until she wrote her own list.

Write your own list.  Describe who YOU are.  Feel free to send it to me and share it.  Feel free to post it on your refrigerator, on your bathroom mirror or place it in a place that you treasure and safe. If you are a stranger to yourself until the list, you will be meeting a very special person – YOU!

Believe In Yourself,
Cathy, CLC
Certified Life Coach, Weight Loss Surgery Coach
Certified Back On Track Facilitator