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The Importance of Social Support

Posted by Dan on July 09th 2007 to Attitude

Most of the time on this blog I like to talk about the things that you personally can be doing to better your life and health. But the problem is that if all we do is rely on ourselves and ourselves alone, we don’t have as high a probability of making it. There are so many other factors that play into our surroundings that need to be considered if we’re going to be successful.

Today let’s talk about your social network and how they support you. We’ve all been told since we were kids that we needed to hang out with the right crowd. The same goes when it comes to your health and wellness. If you’re always hanging out with lazy, overweight, exercise avoiding people you’re likely to be one yourself. On the other hand, if you spend most of your time around healthy, exercise loving, moving forward people you’re also likely to become one of those as well.

Does this mean that you need to drop your friends and get a new group of people to hang out with. Not necessarily! What you need to do first is some probing into whether or not they will support you in your new habits. If you approach them and say “hey guys, I’m starting a new workout program and would appreciate your support by blah blah blah (fill in the blahs)” and they give you support or if some of them think that it’s such a great idea that they want to join you, then you know you have a positive support group. On the other hand, if they make fun of your new idea and try to pull you back down, you’re definitely in the wrong crowd. But does this mean you can’t be friends with these people? NO! It just means that you need to prioritize your time so that you are spending most of your time with those people that will encourage you.

Now what do you do when a negative social network lives with you (spouse or significant other). Honestly, I think that in this situation you have to be a lot stronger personally and hopefully eventually they’ll come around to support you. But don’t expect much until you prove that you’re serious.

In either situation you have to be determined enough to realize that in the end it does all depend on you. Your friend are not going to drag you to the gym. In the end you have to be responsible and take the blame. A positive social network can help, but don’t rely on them to get you through. Use them as a means of support for what you have already decided to do.

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