We sincerely appreciate Jennifer Livingston utilizing this event in her life as a means to promote anti-bullying. She could've ignored it or just dealt with it privately, but she chose to bring it to the fore-front for a greater cause: to fight bullies, and for that, she deserves a round of applause!
But all of this got our wheels turning, so we wanted to bring it up with you guys. What is considered tough love and what is considered bullying? How fine is that line? We are in no way trying to say that Ms. Livingston's situation wasn't bullying, rather, we got to thinking about our own behavior and whether or not we could be interpreted as bullies!
If you know us personally (or just follow us here or on Facebook and Twitter), you know that we are very assertive people. We don't like to hem-and-haw with folks and we certainly do not beat around the bush. When it comes to our health and fitness coaching, we (and others) often refer to it is "tough love". We typically do not hesitate to call people out when they're making excuses. We like to promote big doses of reality checks, both for ourselves and for others. We don't like to sugar coat (pun!) things. Is that bullying?
Clearly, we hope it is not interpreted that way. Living a balanced, healthy lifestyle has been the greatest gift for the two of us, and yes - we promote it incessantly but it is only because we want as many people as we can reach to feel the same way! We are as supportive and encouraging as we can be to our clients/customers - but if they are starting up the bull-sh*t factory, we will call them out on it.
What are your thoughts on tough love versus bullying?
In Health,
Timothy and Lindsay
