What Is Your Medicine?
As accountability coaches, our role is to ensure people follow through on their commitments, that they don’t just state their intentions; they act on them.
However, missing a commitment is an opportunity to learn about what we resist and why. I’ve noticed a specific type of missed commitment that recurs often enough to be significant. This is the commitment that, when honored, relieves stress, anxiety, or exhaustion—the very thing people commit to because they know it will make them feel better. I like to think of these types of commitments as just the medicine we need.
Recognizing What You Need Most
What I’ve observed in myself and others is that we will deprioritize exactly the commitment that we need most. It could be skipping meditating when you are feeling anxious or neglecting updating your budget when you’re stressed about finances. It’s not just avoiding a task; it’s avoiding the very action that could alleviate stress in that area. We often unpack these issues in our sessions, and clients return the next week feeling relieved they took the action this time, as it was truly the medicine they needed.
Most people intuitively know what commitments to make at the outset of the week. However, as the week progresses, it’s easy to forget that inner wisdom. If something keeps nagging at you and you find yourself avoiding it, that’s likely what you need the most. It’s the medicine.
So, what’s something you know would make you feel better but you’ve been putting off or resisting? For me, it’s often as simple as going for a walk outside with my dog. It’s easy for me to make excuses that I’m too busy or there is something more pressing, but this outdoor time clears my mind, boosts my energy, and relieves stress. Knowing that it’s my medicine makes it so I resist it less, do it more, and my dog wins too.
