A large part of the work I do is about keeping negativity out of our life. It wasn’t until I wrote the previous post about moving past stress that I finally decided to read all the media, posts, and comments flying around about Dr. Drew and his comments regarding endometriosis. I very much feel the situation relates to learning how to move past stress.
One of the steps I listed for easing stress and keeping negativity out of our life is to Let Go Of What Other People Think. Today, the question becomes…How?
I find this Dr. Drew situation to be the perfect example, and a tricky one as well. Now, it is one thing if some random person made the misguided comment, but a celebrity talk-show host and doctor made a comment about a handful of diseases, including endometriosis, being “garbage diseases”. That feels hurtful, and hurtful to A LOT OF WOMEN. <<If you are interested in hearing the original podcast
, click here.>>
How do we let our voices be heard without becoming overwhelmed, overly irritated, and angered by the situation? As I watched the furry created by Dr. Drew’s misstep, I could feel the hurt felt by so many, and how the work I do could help the EndoSister community move past the negativity.
How to Let Go of What Other People Think:
It’s just one person. Realizing that we are all human, and are all ONE out of billion people on the planet helps put things in perspective. Although Dr. Drew is an M.D. and has a large platform of listeners makes his impact seem larger than just one person, but in reality, he is just one person who said something pretty insensitive. What’s amazing is in the wake of his stupidity, some of the most influential people in the endometriosis community stepped up and created movement around awareness and education for the disease. <<click here to hear Dr. Seckin and Dr. Drew’s discussion>> Dr. Seckin took the opportunity to not only set the record straight, but educate Dr. Drew and his audience on the complexity of the disease, the complexity of treatment options, and to discuss current state of the disease.
Practice Compassion. In Dr. Brene Brown’s Book, “I Thought it was Just Me” her chapter Practicing Compassion in a Culture of Blame discusses how stereotypes and labeling are hurtful and shaming for both individuals and collectively, and limit our ability to build connections. We can learn from Dr. Drew’s mistake of labeling ALL mentioned diseases as garbage bag diseases. He could have shown compassion by reiterating that in this situation for the caller’s fiancé it appears that…and then go on and give his opinion.
In the same manner, Brene Brown talks about responding with compassion instead of anger. It saddened me to read an immense number of extremely angry and hateful responses in this situation. HOW we respond to a situation says more about ourself than it does the other person. Which leads me to the last suggestion…
Don’t take it personally. Easier said than done, right? I love the quote, “You can’t change what people say, all you can do is change how you choose to react.” Take a step back to remember that, regardless of Dr. Drew’s misstep, endometriosis is a pathologically diagnosed chronic disease that affects 1 and 10 women. In that moment, his verbiage could have been chosen more carefully. And in the aftermath, many other comments could have been crafted more carefully as well.
If your blood was boiling, and you’d like to learn how to move past other negative situations faster, join me for my upcoming class on Stress and Negativity. At the beginning of June I will be teaching the course – Get Off the Negativity Train – 10 Steps to Let Go of Stress and Negativity, and Move Towards a Positive Life.
Join Me! Sign Up, and get started towards a more positive life.
