The Starvation of Success and How It’s Affecting You

When we talk about starvation, or eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, we’re normally referring to behavior relating to food.

For example, when someone is said to have the condition called anorexia, we are typically describing a behavior pattern marked by an aversion to or pushing away of food. When someone has bulimia, it typically means behavior characterized by the bingeing and purging of food (gorging on food and then inducing vomiting).

Up until that moment, no one had ever thought that these types of starvation behaviors could be related to anything but food. I suppose the assumption was that other than food, what could human beings consume (and therefore starve ourselves of)?

But at the moment I became aware that I was settling for the crumbs of life, I realized that there WAS something else we humans could starve themselves of, and this previously unrecognized method of starvation was affecting tens of millions of people.

What no one had considered before was that human beings could starve ourselves of success.

Think about this for a moment.

Women, since the beginning of human history, have been taught that their worth comes from their physical bodies. While it is totally politically incorrect to say this, the fact remains that women, for most of the history of civilization, were treated like possessions to be sold and acquired for the purposes of marriage and procreation.

Make no mistake about it: a woman's worth does NOT come from her body!

However, since the beginning of time, female human beings have been TOLD or TAUGHT – implicitly and explicitly – that their worth stems from their physical bodies.

So, let's say you have a human being who has been TOLD since the beginning of time that her worth comes from her physical body (even though it isn't true, it's what she's been TAUGHT).

Let's further say that this person develops really low self-esteem and a very low sense of self-worth. So now you have a person who's been TOLD that her worth comes from her physical body… and you add to that a very low sense of self-worth…

Doesn't it make sense that that person will PUNISH that part of herself that she was TOLD her worth comes from – namely, her physical body?

And if you are going to unconsciously punish your physical body, doesn't it make sense that you are going to starve yourself of food?

I have just shown you, in five sentences, what causes a person to develop an eating disorder.

Now, I realize that no woman reading this book was "told" in a literal sense that "your worth comes from your physical body.” But if you happen to live on the planet Earth and are female, it's nearly impossible for this belief to not have affected you – simply because it's been around for so many centuries.

Which leads us to… the other sex. That would be, men.

Where have men been taught their worth comes from?

Men, since the beginning of human history, have been TAUGHT or TOLD that their worth comes from their possessions, titles, job, net worth, holdings, size of bank account – what I call their material bodies (as opposed to their physical bodies).

While it is also completely politically incorrect to say this, the fact remains that men have been judged almost solely on what they possess or are capable of earning – bringing home the bacon. Of course, this is NOT where a man's worth comes from – it is just what men have been TOLD or TAUGHT their worth comes from.

So, what if you have a human being who has been TOLD since the beginning of time that his worth comes from… not his physical body, but his material body (even though this isn't true, it's what he's been TAUGHT). Let's further assume that this person develops a really negative self-image.

Now you have a person who's been TOLD that his worth comes from his material body… and you add to that a very low sense of self-worth…

Doesn't it make sense that he will punish that part of himself that he was TOLD his worth comes from – namely, his material body?

And if you are going to unconsciously punish your material body, doesn't it make sense that you are going to starve yourself of success?