I remember that when I was younger and battling my own eating disorder, the times I was magically able to keep my promises to myself coincided with when I was feeling lousy about something else.
After a bad breakup, for example… Ok, so it was a little bit motivated by grandiose thoughts around how sorry he would be when he saw me, and other 20-something fantasies, but so what? The point was that when something beyond my control threw me a seriously painful something, I took my power back by going into “extreme self care”.
You know me well enough to know I am NOT talking about dieting here, or crazy-schemed unhealthy weight loss or anything like that (you do know this, right?).
We are simply talking about the idea of flipping over the ongoing struggles with eating in a way that taking care of yourself, feeding yourself beautifully and well, slowing down, getting out of perfectionism, and all the other pieces you need to recover from eating issues, can feel really really good when other things feel really bad.
In spite of all of the discouraging news and so many struggling with finances and feeling terribly stressed these days, you may be able to use the doom and gloom in a powerful way. I have seen this happen so let’s look at this together for a minute or so.
During difficult times , it can be comforting to know that if you choose, you can do something about your way of caring yourself, without hurting yourself with food or overeating.
Sometimes it takes a crisis to help us clarify what is truly out of our control, versus what we only perceive as such.
If you have been struggling for years with your weight and ways of using food to self-soothe, times when you’re challenged in other ways can provide the context around what you can impact through your actions and intentions, and what you cannot. Can you change the economy? Single-handedly bring about world peace? Cure cancer? Uhhh… no. Sadly not.
But could you possibly learn to eat something healthy every 3 hours, buy only whole unprocessed foods, and commit other teensy little baby steps every day to change your relationship with your body and your eating? Yes, of course you can.
Perspective is always a good thing, right? When you compare shifting some of these behaviors, creating a gentle new routine of loving self-care, with the other more impossible goals, you get your perspective back quickly.
You know I want that for you!!
love and xox and happy healthy weekend!
Lisa
P.S. Anyone else NOT watching football or going anywhere near a game Sunday?
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