No, I am not talking about a prescription, and if you haven’t seen the movie The Matrix, let me explain.

In the movie, the two main characters are meeting for the first time. Morpheus (the wise teacher) offers Neo (the young student) to choose one of two pills. If Neo takes the red pill, Morpheus will teach him, and tell him all of the secrets of the world around him as it actually is, how it works and who Neo really is.

If he takes the blue pill, then he goes back to his life of not knowing anything and just putting in time in his dead end job.

It’s an amazing analogy that really speaks to the resistance to change and lack of motivation that holds so many people hostage. That in reality people would rather stay stuck where they are than accept the challenge to understand what is really going on, and to change. You might think that doesn’t make any sense, but the truth is, it is easier to stay where we are, keep doing the things we are doing the way we are doing them because we know how it works.

Being overweight is easy.

We know what foods to eat, how they taste, where to find them, and what they cost. We know what to wear, how to act, and how others will react to us as we are.

There is nothing to immediately sacrifice, change, or risk and we ignore the potential consequences that may come later, because right now, this is easy.

If you were to get healthy it might mean your friends and family wouldn’t agree, or come along, or feel comfortable.

Chances are, if you are overweight and unhealthy, so are your friends and family, and if you should change they might not support you.

On your new eating plan you would choose to stop eating out at the high fat, high sugar, low nutrition places that are part of your current lifestyle, which would mean you couldn’t hang out with your group any more.

If you did join them at those places, you would be the one person drinking water with lemon, and eating a healthy choice. Everyone would give you a hard time and maybe even ridicule you and insist that you join them. This is a common response in human social groups; people want their friends to be just like them, and they are not willing to confront the things they feel guilty over if suddenly you do just that.

One of my business coaches was telling me a story of being in Alaska on a fishing trip. Standing beside a fisherman with a bucket of crabs in it, he observed one crab clawing its way to the top rim of the bucket and approaching escape and freedom.

My coach pointed out to the fisherman this was happening and the fisherman calmly said it wasn’t a problem, and to just watch what happened next. Sure enough, as the one crab was about to reach the rim of the bucket and escape, all the other little crabs reached up and hauled the one crab back down into the bucket, preventing it from escaping, but keeping the community intact.

If motivation and action are holding you back, and no matter how hard you try, you seem to end up right back where you started every time, then perhaps it is time for you to consider the ‘Unlocking The Warrior Code’ course this weekend (March 15th).

A one day course on finding out what is really stopping you from the inside, and then dealing with it immediately and taking charge of your life.

If you are ready to change, get in touch with me before the course is full. http://www.yourbodycar.com/movtivator/unlocking-the-warrior-code/

Scott McDermott is a personal trainer and owner of Best Body Fitness in Sylvan Lake.