Having traveled this road and traveling it still, I know that so many in our world today have woken up this am wanting today to be the day – the day they commit to change for good, to see a sign, find a product, find something to deliver hope. And I find it important for me to post often that today CAN be your day, when you truly think about it, why can’t it be ?! The biggest obstacle you’ll have are your own voices telling you, you can’t.
You see it’s not that we can’t, it’s that we choose not to, everything we do or don’t do is a choice and when we are afraid of change, afraid of what it will take, sometimes we live in the fear instead of breaking down the door. The reason it’s important to know this, is because most likely some inner voices are telling you, you can’t and often, it will be based on past attempts but our past doesn’t have to define us and we don’t have to travel the same path if we are willing to make a conscious effort to learn from our mistakes. There is also a truth that the modern term of ” diets ” doesn’t work for most, myself included. Diets for the most part are saturated in feelings of punishment ” You’re this size so you can never eat this again “ and right from the first second the plan is started, from the moment it begins, there are negative feelings attached ” you need to do this because you are currently not good enough ” how long can this process really last ? I mean, how good are fast results if these results require us to re start our journey over and over again our entire life sacrificing how we view ourselves ? This is where we need to break the cycle and try a new way, leaving diets behind and deciding to change our life for life.
One of the first things to learn and embrace, in my opinion is that real life change has to begin on the inside. It’s time to change the inner dialog, challenge what we believe to be true and to find SELF LOVE – SELF RESPECT & SELF BELIEF – It’s a time to take control realizing that everything is a choice and to practice aware living. Aware living is what best describes the guidelines I follow – I used to grab things and eat fast so once they were gone, it was like I never ate them at all, it wasn’t real, it didn’t happen but of course it did. If I felt bad about myself, I let the inner voices go places that made me feel worse, I allowed fear to paralyze me and keep my hiding from the world but now, living aware means, I don’t get to tune out…this is KEY ….. we don’t get to tune out.…. If I eat poorly, it was a choice to eat like that and I take responsibility and based on that, I decide how I’ll deal with my next choice that day, the same is true for all life decisions. When negative voices come, I ask myself – where has this thinking ever got me, where will it bring me and the answer will ALWAYS be down a road I don’t want to go so if I choose to go down that road, I am choosing unhappiness.
I tried on clothes months ago in a fitting room and realized that with health issues, came some extra rolls and my initial thinking was Ughhh along with some really ?!?! However, right away, I challenged it because I know this thinking only makes things worse and more importantly, it has no room in my solution. I reminded myself of how far I’ve come since beginning my journey in late 2010. Changing this thinking also allowed me to realize it wasn’t that big of a deal and in changing my attitude, I was able to find clothing items I loved. I had to be quick on my feet as well because outside the dressing room I heard all three of my boys saying my name over and over, knowing they and my husband were looking for me which added humor and perspective, I’m blessed with three amazing boys and husband and have been rocking my life since changing things late 2010, we need to be open to see the BIG picture ! YES, I want to live my most health life, however, abusing myself with negative self talk along the way is not the solution !
Living aware means always staying accountable and on top of our feelings..when negative thinking kicks in, we kick it to the curb and replace the thinking with positives like we would for someone we love. We MUST let go of the idea that once we begin changing our life that everything has to be perfect OR it means we have failed and need to start all over again. When we change our life and decide to not be on a diet it means we do our best each day, it means real life will come with real obstacles and in being realistic, those obstacles will be hard some days, maybe we will fall short of our goals but that’s not failure, letting old thinking say ” see you did it again, you failed “ is what will rob us of progress and success. Remember that life should always be loved and enjoyed, it’s a blessing and although changing our thinking, exercise and changing our eating can be hard, if we do it in a way that speaks to us, we can also find that balance of making a healthy life work, so we include the things that make us happy. Often I hear ” well I hate exercise “ so if you feel this way, challenge that thinking, exercise can be anything where you exert energy, do you like swimming, walking, biking, hiking, soccer, baseball, running, dancing…the list goes on and on and if you can’t think of anything you like, go with the option that you like best because you may realize it’s not exercise or healthy eating you don’t like, it’s the fog of self despair and even often depression making us feel that way. The same is true for foods, when we are addicted, we tell ourselves that these foods make things better but we ALL know these foods in fact make things worse and it’s the addiction / habit that has us reaching for more. We need to experiment with healthy eating – make it a priority with drinking plenty of water. At first, change may be hard but if you make a sound plan to look after your emotions, to feed your body with real foods, drink your water and MOVE and create this around things you like and love as much as possible, you will notice a fog slowly lift, the fog that self loathing, inactivity and junk foods keep us in. At first, you may not see a pound drop off the scale but feel amazing and when you FEEL amazing, you can do amazing things and your world begins to open up.
So the question isn’t, can today be the day you change you life, save your life ? It’s, will it be ? Will you change your life today and start your forever journey taking things one step at a time, not requiring perfection but aiming for progress and LOVING yourself in the skin you’re in now. WILL YOU ?
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