Seeing is believing.
Not so fast. In today’s world, I think there is a lot more ‘believing is seeing’ going on. Especially when it comes to people’s core beliefs and opinions.
More and more I see people closing their minds to other perspectives and differing ideas because of their dogmatic beliefs that their way or their understanding is correct. In our day and age, can you really blame them? Any belief you have you can pretty much type in on the internet and find hundreds (maybe thousands) of people and articles that support and bolster your beliefs.
This is especially true surrounding diet, health, nutrition, and fitness.
Paleo is the best diet? Here’s 16,200,000 results that say YES.
Bread is bad for you? Here’s 157,000,000 results that would agree.
Cross fit is a cult? Here’s 397,000 results on board with that claim.
You get my point. Anything and everything you believe can be supported or argued against by merely searching about it online.
It leaves us at a loss for what is true….what is reality.
But instead of being all out skeptics, people go to the opposite extreme. They latch on to one way of thinking, and then decry any and all information that doesn’t support their one-track mindset. In fact, they actively search out information that supports their beliefs just to feel a sense of security that what they think is correct. In some cases they get angry at anyone who has a differing opinion or evidence that counters their claims. Sound familiar?
I bring this up because I think it happens a lot in the world of health. People get defensive about their certain lifestyle and become very intolerant of anyone else who may have found an alternative form of personal wellness. This comes from a place of insecurity. If these people were confident in their beliefs, they wouldn’t feel the need to put down others or or defend their choices to the extreme.
The truth is, we see what we want to see in the world. When we choose to make our beliefs the be all end all, we close the door to all the other good things that could make our life rich. Just because something doesn’t specifically align with what we think doesn’t make it wrong or bad. It just makes it different.
If I’ve learned anything, it’s that the world has very few absolutes. What works for some doesn’t work for others, and everyone truly is an individual. There are very few cases when you can place a whole portion of the world under the same umbrella.
The thing is though, people like absolutes. They like concrete facts. They like structure. They like routine. And that’s why we easily get caught up with the dogmatic chains of various fitness and diet beliefs. We forget that living with flexibility, acceptance, and outside of black and whites, is really what makes life full.
Being open and receptive to others beliefs makes you a more dynamic person. It creates a world of possibilities, makes you a life long learner, and may even help you discover your own truths. You’re more approachable, you’re more empathetic, and you have a more well rounded perspective on the world.
So I offer this to you, what if you actively went out of your way to challenge your beliefs?
Belief: Being thin makes you happy?
Go out of your way to find an example of heavier person that is living the life you dream of…health, happiness, and fulfillment outside of exercise and diet.
Belief: You should be gluten-free even though you don’t have celiac?
Consider the fact that cutting out food groups is not recommended and that grains have a lot to offer you nutritionally. In fact, speak with an RD or nutritionist that can give the hard science behind eating moderately from all the food groups.
Belief: Lifting is the only good way to exercise and cardio sucks?
Have a chat with a runner! See where their passion lies and maybe work together to see how you could improve each others training regimens. It’s good to have a balance of both!
These are just a few examples, but the ways in which you could challenge your long held beliefs are ENDLESS. And by doing so, you’re not only opening up your mind, but you’re opening up your life to the expansive, ever changing world around you. And that, my friends, is what life’s about. Restriction in any form (including in how you think) is ultimately only serving to hold you back from what you really want to accomplish.
Do you find yourself getting defensive when other people challenge your beliefs?
What can you do TODAY to be more respectful of other people’s differences?
Have you noticed the dogmatic belief systems that are entrenched in the world of health & fitness?
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33 responses to “The Importance of Challenging Your Beliefs”
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I love this so much. There is an incredible amount of dogmatic behavior shown by so many people when it comes to their dietary beliefs. People are ripping each other to shreds over the ideas of veganism, paleo, etc. and it is so ridiculous to watch from the outside because isn’t everyone’s goal just to become healthy and happy?
Anyways, I think it is so important to step outside of one’s beliefs and just seek out information from other areas. Flexibility and understanding of what else is out there is crucial in my opinion, even if one feels as though there is enough ‘scientific’ evidence out there to support their main food/exercise beliefs. Everyone is different and if you look hard enough, you can definitely find studies that support and don’t support your beliefs.
This makes it so hard for individuals who want to spread he message of health. What do we advocate? Which diet? What workouts?
I definitely faced my era of feeling dogmatic about low carb and seeing it as my ‘duty’ to educate everyone and anyone about how they should be eating and how HIIT was the only acceptable type of exercise. I am incredibly happy that I no longer posses those beliefs now- however I can attest to it being a very difficult thought process to break out of :)!
I totally agree! Being flexible, being open, and being non-judgemental are key for our own diets and for understanding other people’s choices! Thank you for such an insightful comment!
This is something that occurs close to me, as in some family members have always either made fun of me or just been judgmental of food choices I make. It gets extremely frustrating and I love your idea of challenging our beliefs. Thanks for sharing this 🙂 <3
Thank you so much Christina! Maybe share this with your family members to give them something to think about!
“Being open and receptive to others beliefs makes you a more dynamic person. It creates a world of possibilities, makes you a life long learner, and may even help you discover your own truths. You’re more approachable, you’re more empathetic, and you have a more well rounded perspective on the world.” – I totally believe this and certainly strive to maintain this thought/idea consistently! 🙂
Thank you so much for reading the post!!
Yes, I do find myself defensive when people question certain things I do, or beliefs I have. I too am guilty of stereotyping people based on their actions as well. I think we all just need to remember that everyone has a choice on how to live their life and just let it be
I agree! We all need to relax a little about judging other people’s choices. But I also think we should self reflect every once in a while to make sure we are not becoming to dogmatic in our beliefs.
Interesting and so true. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you liked the post!!
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I’m definitely guilty of becoming defensive on more than one occasion when my beliefs were challenge, however, I’ve been actively trying to see things from other perspectives more and more often through my adult life. I myself have challenged my own beliefs so many times over the years and ended up with a totally different lifestyle than the one I had originally planned! All for the better I think!
Yes definitely! I find the more I learn about different ways of thinking and living the more I discover about what works best for me!
I get so frustrated by people who are not respectful of how we all live our lives. We never know other back story and as a result should just support one another to reach our goals. There is no room for dogmatic approaches to anything- you just cut yourself off from the world and alienate other people. Great most. Mel xx #brilliantblogposts
Thank you so much Mel! I am glad you stopped by!
What a brilliant post. It’s so true that the internet provides us with an instant way to confirm that our beliefs -whatever they may be- are correct. How many discussions include the line ‘I read online that’ or ‘Google says that’ – we need to challenge our opinions more and as you suggest, explore the alternative argument. Thanks for sharing #BrillBlogPosts
Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my post! 🙂
In the past, I was definitely guilty of this one, but now that I’ve grown a bit I definitely think it’s more important to be open, willing to change your mind, and reserve judgment. great post!
Thanks Tianna! Glad to hear you’ve moved past this! 🙂
I don’t know if it comes with age but I really don’t care at all what people feel about me. I go about my life just wanting to be kind- nothing more or nothing less.
There is an old saying- ” walk a mile in my shoes” everybody needs to walk in each others shoes for just one hour .
Thanks for posting,
Linda
bestoflongIslandandcentralflorida
I like your approach. I think we’d be much better off if people worried more about than their own choices than about others! Thanks for stopping by!
Very interesting post, I like it a lot. I tend to get annoyed by people that challenge my beliefs. I know they do that because they are insecure, but that is their issue, not mine. As a vegetarian I heard so many times the question regarding shoes and handbags made out of leather. How can I “appreciate” being considered a hypocrite by friends and family is beyond me. Well, I don’t have any leather items and I can still wear 4″ heels and I have pretty handbags from faux leather. The same can be applied to food too.
As for my beliefs, I read about subjects like gluten-free, but I would never considered it as I don’t think gluten is bad for non-celiacs and so on.
Hi Kaila,
I have to admit honestly that I do at times find myself being defensive when someone does not believe the same way I do, but I have learned to be much more open and believe strongly that we are all individuals – our bodies are all unique and there is no such thing as one size fits all. You have written this article very well and it certainly does give me a lot to think about. I think with age we sort of mellow out and learn to accept different ideas. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & twitted!
Thanks so much for reading and sharing Marla!
Good, wise thoughts. If we don’t take time to read, think, question, ponder, wonder, and imagine a different way than that to which we are accustomed to, then we may just be living out someone else’s beliefs: the loudest, most persistent voices are the ones that stick in our heads, and the loudest, most persistent voices aren’t necessarily the best ones to listen to.
Thank you so much Carolyn! You are so right about the loud voices being the ones that stick.
I thought this blog post was goign to be about the religion / athiesm debate! ALways question your own beliefs and taken nothing for granted….that’s my approach. #BrilliantBlogPosts
I hope you weren’t disappointed that it wasn’t! 🙂
Yes, this is true when it comes to eating/dieting/workout plans. I find that it takes humility and kindness to just stop and listen to the other sides . . . If you are open, you can find them quite fascinating. 🙂
Yes! I would rather LEARN about others choices than automatically write them off!
Yes!! I’d rather LEARN about other people’s perspectives than immediately write them off as being wrong!
It’s crazy how in the world of health the “right thing” changes so frequently… Like margarine vs. butter… You know. Thanks for sharing at Savoring Saturdays. 🙂
Yes exactly! Every day a new article or study comes out contradicting the day before’s info!