He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.~Lao Tzu
This chaotic thing called life!
Dear friends,
The last couple days, I have reclaimed my center, and I sincerely hope I can manage to stay there in regards to my food choices. The picture above is how I feel. This small little center of a being, pulled in 9 million directions by a hundred different people. Ok, maybe just a few people, but many days it feels like a million. It is funny how two little kids can demand so much of one little mama!
I told a friend recently that January was the new December, and February has been the new May. With life is so busy and chaotic, I shutter to think what the actual month of May will feel like. Everyone I know, self included, is over stressed, over whelmed and over scheduled in our life right now. These are busy times, and busy over loaded times are precipitators for stress and anxiety. Stress and anxiety are two main perpetrators of healthy eating. For many of us we are running from one activity to another, and having to grab meals on the go because we often do not even make it home before 8 PM.
I told you last time I wrote that I had fallen victim to my chaotic life, and many stressful circumstances, and I had been derailed from the tracks of healthy eating. Well, I was determined, come Monday, I would get back on the train. I so far have achieved my mission, but it has been hard. It is a struggle every day, every meal and really every hour, because I like to eat to sooth any little bit of disruption that comes my way. Eating healthy can be one of the greatest challenges of life, especially if we are emotional eaters.
After a few days of being re-centered in my life, and eating healthy, I am feeling so much better. My pants are starting to be comfortable again, I am less tired, and I am all around happier being me. The sugar highs and lows are gone, my hands are shaking less, and at the end of the day I am not feeling like I am about to bust out of my skin, sugar and caffeine in excess do that too me. Really, some days when I don’t exercise moderation with those two evil little things, I feel like I am about to have an INCREDIBLE HULK moment by the end of the day. I am waiting any second to turn green, skin start ripping, and I don’t know what is going to pop out, but I imagine in my mind it will be as ugly and horrific as the green, mean muscle man from the show I watched as a child.
I picked the quote I did to open my message today because it carries a very valuable lesson that I have come to really understand the past year. Anyone can easily control other people, things, animals, situations, but it is in controlling ourselves that we are presented with the biggest challenge of life. Controlling what we eat, think and say is so vital to the kind of life we will lead, and the person we will become. After all, our thoughts, feeling and words become our attitudes and actions most of the time.
So why is controlling ourselves so hard? Well, on a deeper level, I think it has to come down to loving ourselves. Once we feel worthy of self love and respect, then we are more apt receive it from others. One of the first steps in loving ourselves is getting healthy and eating right. It is just a natural process that when you eat better, you feel better. When you feel better, you think better. When you think and feel better on the inside, it starts to radiate to the outside in the form of attitude and actions. I also think at this point we are able to loose some of the obsession with control, in the sense that we don’t have to be so worried about how we look, and what other people think of us, because we feel good. We feel capable of accepting love and respect because we possess it for ourselves.
Loving people we don’t really care for is a challenging thing to do, but recognize it or not, loving a self that we do not like, is even more difficult. If you cannot love yourself freely and fully at this very moment, that is ok. Start with a simple step. Can you make a promise to yourself and keep it? If so, promise yourself that tomorrow morning, you are going to get up and start a new path. A path to feeling better and living better. If that overwhelms you, and you don’t know where to start, my email will be at the bottom of this post.I will walk you through it. Lets formulate a meal plan for you that is going to get you feeling better so that you can start living better, and most importantly, loving better.
We are all worthy. We were all molded and specially created in the hands of a God who loves us, and created us to love and be loved. Lets start with self love. I know this is hard in this busy life we lead, but you have to carve out some me time, plan ahead and be prepared. If you are a busy mom, remember the ME in mommy! It is a must and you are a person, too. Sacrificing ourselves for our kids, our jobs or whatever it may be is not selfless, it is selfish. You need to be around, and be around in a happy, positive form for those kids, that job, that husband or whatever it is that gets you up each day.
Take a deep breath now, and say a prayer if you pray. Ask God to help you love and value yourself, and to light a path of a new journey for you to a place of healthier living. Next if you don’t know where to begin, I highly recommend Weight Watchers. It is not restrictive, and allows you plenty of food to keep you satisfied if you are eating the right kinds of foods. I say IF, because you cannot waste all your points on sugar and carbs or you will be starving, and end up over eating. You have to make smart choices. Read books, research online, or email me, and find a path for yourself that is attainable. You can do this! If I can do it, so can you! It isn’t easy, I don’t lie, but it is doable. I think once you get into it, you will be pleasantly surprised how good you feel, and that will be the motivation you need to keep yourself going!
Lets talk if need be friends!
skinnygirlfatgenes@gmail.com
Until we talk again, load up on knowledge, formulate a plan and begin to follow a new path to a happier, healthier you!
