When one looks at all of the great achievements in the world – intellectual, technical, scientific, artistic, athletic, and humanitarian – it appears obvious that humans are conditioned in the direction of achievement. While opportunities to achieve are limited for some people because of where they live and/or because of experiences that have interfered with the positive conditioning process, those who have be able to progress despite difficult circumstances seem to verify the universality of the concept of striving for personal growth.
Those who work in the medical area are aware of the concept of deconditioning. It often occurs during the acute phase of an illness, injury, or recover from surgery when restricted activity can result in physical changes such as muscle atrophy and reductions in strength and cardiac output. Because these changes are physically damaging but reversible, physicians now get patients active and involved in physical therapy and work-related activities much earlier than had been the case in the future. Medical patients are thus less like to get deconditioned than in the past.
A related problem, however, occurs because some people lead a sedentary lifestyle without the motivation to supplement it through activities that promote muscular and cardiac strength and tone – thus increasing their chances of spending a significant portion of their lives in poor health.
Recently I have been focusing on the concept of emotional deconditioning. It really takes two forms: (1) lacking emotional discipline to stay in good physical shape – as part of a general lifestyle or to come back from a medical situation that has caused some limitations; (2) a lack of self-esteem and optimism that limits the ability to make positive changes, pursue goal-achieving activities, and maximize potential.
I believe that these are both parts of the same self-limiting concept. Positive Psychology and Goal-Achieving Psychotherapy are dedicated to helping people thrive. A necessary component of this is the belief that things can go right and get better. Taking steps to make this happen is an important part of overcoming emotional deconditioning.
Since this is a current interest area of mine, you are like to see more information on this topic emerging from The Mental Health Gym. If you identify yourself among those who are emotionally deconditioned, you will also find it helpful to review other blogs on our website (in addition to posts on our Facebook page) to help you get back to being conditioned to achieve.