Ending Deprivation
Hi, everybody. Welcome back. I wanted to start off this episode by asking you a question. When was the last time that you felt deprived? When was the last time that you had the feeling of deprivation in your body? Because you had this sense of really wanting something and then telling yourself that you couldn’t have.
This is such an important question because for most people, when they try to change something in their life deprivation, he seems to go hand in hand with getting results. Right? So if I want to cut back on drinking, I’m going to feel deprived when it comes to alcohol. If I want to save money, I’m going to feel deprived when it comes to spending.
The difference between a need and a want will really help you understand this at a deeper level. There are things that your body needs in order to function. It needs oxygen. It needs water. It does need food. It needs sleep. It needs warmth. There are things that your body is driven to seek out as part of its impulse to survive your body needs these things.
They are, they are basic requirements, right? Your body needs basic levels. Of each so that it can function and maintain homeostasis. Okay. So think about it. You cannot hold your breath indefinitely. You cannot decide that you no longer need sleep. When it comes to the things that your body truly, truly needs.
They’re non-negotiables right. What happens when you try to deprive yourself of one of these things as we sometimes do, right? It’ll feel terrible. Now. Think about holding your breath, right? Even if you tell yourself I’m going to hold it for as long as I possibly. At some point, it’s going to feel so uncomfortable in your body that you’re going to be forced to take a.
Now the reason why this happens is because your body needs oxygen. So when you’re not breathing, when you’re not holding your breath, there are rising levels of CO2 in your body. And those rising levels of CO2 are actually irritating your lungs. And so your diaphragm and your muscles in between your ribs, they’ll begin to spasm totally outside.
Of your control and it will feel like your lungs are going to burst. It will feel uncomfortable and you will finally Gasper for air and it’s, it’s really outside your control. The same thing is true of sleep de deprivation. Think about how awful it feels when you are forcing yourself to stay awake when your body wants to.
When you are depriving yourself of sleep, it feels terrible. And it’s true. You can keep yourself awake for some period of time. You can pull an all nighter, but sleep is a basic biological necessity for all humans. You need it to perform basic cognitive functions. You need it for your immune system. You cannot keep yourself awake indefinitely.
and it feels terrible when you’re trying to do that. There are moments when deprivation for things that we really need, it does indeed feel very uncomfortable. It is not pleasant when we are depriving ourselves of things that our body truly needs. But again, This is physical deprivation, the impulse to breathe, to sleep, to eat.
They are created by your body and when your body doesn’t get the basic things, it needs to function. It not only feels terrible, but it actually forces you to try to seek them out. Now, your needs. Are totally different from your wants. And again, most people do not make this distinction. We get our needs and our wants all mixed up together.
Right. It seems like food, oxygen, sleep and wine and chocolate and money. Right. Our needs and wants, totally become entangled. Your body does not need the things that you want. You just think that it does. It’s so important to be able to understand those two differences because when your body truly needs something to function, there will be physical deprivation when you don’t give it to.
When your body doesn’t really need something to function when you just want it, you are much more likely experiencing emotional deprivation. So what this means is that the deprivation you feel when you try to cut back, right? The deprivation you feel when you try to take a break is deprivation. That is not being created by your body.
It is being, it is deprivation. That’s being created with your. It is emotional deprivation, not physical deprivation. I will tell you that this is the very best news, because once you understand this and you’re able to make the distinction, it means that you can start to exert some control over it. You can start to work with your mind.
You can start to work with your thoughts to stop feeling deprived. When you wanna cut back on your snacking or to stop feeling deprived, when you want to reduce your sugar. This is so essential because feeling deprived and feeling like you’re missing out is usually the number one reason why people aren’t successful when they wanna overcome overeating, or they want to reduce sugar because they feel the deprivation is too much.
It feels impossible to overcome. Like it’s never going to go. Right. They’re gonna be missing out forever. This idea of, I just can’t go on living my life like this, and I’m always going to feel deprived. This is always going to be terrible. It feels like too much for people. And so they quit. But if you understand the difference between emotional deprivation and physical deprivation, you understand the difference between true needs and wants.
If you understand the difference between how an emotion is in your body and how it starts in your mind and travels to your body versus a physical, physical sens. You have the pieces that you need to start to untangle this for yourself and start to understand how you are feeling and also how that is being created by what you’re thinking.
Deprivation is usually just an emotion and emotions are always caused by the thoughts that you’re thinking. So if you want to start the process of doing this work, you have to start to pinpoint the thoughts that are creating your deprivation thoughts. Like I really want it, it tastes so good. This isn’t fair.
But it’s not true. You can start to feel differently. You can change emotional deprivation because it’s not the same as physical de deprivation. Emotional deprivation is created by your mind and your thoughts and awareness. Is that first step, you have to fully understand that your thoughts are creating these feelings before you can begin to change it.
So pay attention to what you’re thinking. Okay. Pay attention to your thoughts in your mind, pay attention to the things that seem kind of innocent. Right. But the thoughts like I really want it. This isn’t fair. It sucks. Everyone else is. I hate doing this. I have to have it, whatever it is. You guys notice your thoughts when you’re feeling deprived.
And that is going to be the very first step to change. All right guys, that’s it. I really loved sharing this episode with you guys, because I think this is really the key to change everything. I would love to hear what you think. If you have questions, if you wanna know more about this, you can always send me a message.
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