Dear Rachel,

My name is Bob, and I’m a blob. I’m this big mass of unhealthy fat. My entire diet consists of processed and junk food, my only exercise is walking to the bus (it stops in front of my house), I sleep either too much or too little, I spend all day on the computer (both at work and at home), and I feel terrible. The point is, I just can’t seem to change. I want to, but can’t. I feel worthless and hopeless. Can you do something for me?

Bob the Blob

Dear Bob,

Bob is such a perky name! Why not alliterate it with another adjective, like Bouncy Bob or Bountiful Bob or Brainy Bob? That’s your main problem, you see—how you define yourself. If you see yourself as a blob, then that’s the vision your brain is going to live up to; it directs your body to synch with that identity consciousness.

So first of all, you need to redefine yourself in your own mind because how you see yourself determines how you really are and how others see you.

Now, I can’t do anything for you. But there are a lot of things that you can do for you. You are immersed in a miasma of bad choices. You are capable of completely turning your life around simply by making different choices. And I’m not talking about anything major, not at all.

Here are some things you can do:

  • Walk to the next bus stop and take the bus from there.
  • Get up every hour from your computer and walk around your desk.
  • Have one sugar less in your coffee.
  • Add one fruit and one vegetable a day to your diet.
  • Get a pedometer. It counts your daily steps. Add another 10 steps until you reach 12,000 steps a day.
  • Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day.
  • Drink (at least) two glasses of water each day.

Change isn’t meteoric or cataclysmic. It occurs slowly, over time, in small increments. And you can make that change happen—slowly, over time, in small increments.

The Torah speaks in several places about the importance of safeguarding your health because your body is housing your soul (Devarim 4:9, 4:15). There is a compendium of laws that require us to guard our physical and emotional health.

Look in the mirror every day and say something nice about yourself. It doesn’t matter what, but it has to be positive self-appreciation. Before you go to bed at night, go over in your mind every positive and constructive thing you did, said, ate and thought, no matter how small it seems.

By redefining yourself positively and taking small yet measurable steps to improvement, you will see positive change and become motivated to do even more. In that way, you can transform yourself into the Best Bob you can be!

By the way, if you look up “can’t” in the dictionary, it says, “See ‘can.’”

Wishing you success on your journey, one slow but sure step at a time!

Rachel