To answer this fundamental question I have to tell you about a study I conducted. In 1994 while at the
Three months after the study ended, we asked the study participants to come back to participate in focus groups. The survivors talked about how wonderful exercise had made them feel both mentally and physically. Of course, I was thrilled to hear how much exercise was benefiting these women!
But I was then shocked to discover that almost everyone had stopped exercising, when their commitment to the study had ended. I asked the study participants: “Why did you stop exercising when it had made you feel so good?” They gave me many answers. These women said that they had stopped exercising because of their many daily responsibilities – cooking and cleaning, chauffeuring children, taking care of others, etc.
After listening to the reasons why these women had stopped exercising it became clear that their barriers were not due to being cancer survivors, but from just having internalized women’s cultural roles and responsibilities. The epiphany I had was that although these breast cancer survivors had been comfortable making a commitment to exercise to fulfill our study requirements, they had not felt comfortable committing to exercise just to improve their own health and well-being!!
Moreover, that women who had faced a life-threatening illness had difficulty prioritizing their own health and wellness demonstrated exactly how deeply women have internalized being the caregiver of others but not necessarily themselves.
Do you relate to this? Over the years I have been amazed by how many women do. The BIG question is, if we feel this way do we want to CONTINUE doing so? Why?/Why Not?
