Where is Your Locus of Control?

Recently I went to a workshop at my church entitled "Taming the Control Freak." Most people wouldn't describe me as such, but my close friends and family know that I can be a bit on the freak side when it comes to cleaning, organizing, planning, etc. Most of my control issues deal with myself and my immediate living situations--the control rarely comes out on other people except Chad, who has more than once been yelled at for sitting on a bed I just made, throwing a dish in the sink when I just unloaded the dishwasher, or otherwise disrupting my perfectly straightened surroundings.

Most of you would say, well that's just being a wife, and while that probably is true, I admit that I think I can control 90% of the things in my life. There are certainly good things that come out of this personality. Chad says that I'm the most disciplined person he's ever met; that if I have a goal, I do what I need to do to accomplish it, end of story. He even jokes that I'm the only person he knows who has the discipline to floss every night! But this amount of control can cause someone to have a hard time letting the mind and body relax. Even on my days off, I usually have a schedule or to-do list in my head. Often my mentality is, "If I want it done right, I have to do it myself."

While I learned some great applications from this workshop about how to let go, one thought I had is that when it comes to your health, controlling is exactly what you want to be. Whether a person has an internal or external locus of control determines many outcomes of their health. For example, those with an external locus believe that anything that happens to their health was going to happen anyway. They are often resistant to change because, "I just wasn't made to enjoy exercise," "It's genetic," "I got out of work late, so I couldn't exercise," or "Running hurts." All of which are just excuses that you can fight to overcome. On the flip side, those with an internal locus of control take full responsibility for their health outcomes. If they are diagnosed with high cholesterol or hypertension, their first thought is "What can I do to lower it?" If they gain weight, they know they can alter things in their diet/exercise or just plain work harder, and they will see results. Discipline is commonly found in these people, while lack of self-control is what leads the other group to slowly fall into sedentary, obese, high-risk lifestyles.

See these studies for further evidence:
http://www.workhealth.org/risk/rfblocus.html
http://www.units.muohio.edu/psybersite/control/health.shtml

Where on this continuum would you fall in regards to your health?