The Choice Is Yours

Way back in 2011 I started this blog. I wanted to make sure that I stayed focused and committed during my wellness journey. I knew that I wanted a mantra of sorts to keep me on task and this is what I came up with.

• Start with a choice to make a change
• Commit the choice to yourself and others
• Continue with courage

Since then, I have ended every single post with those words. 

Make the choice. Commit to the choice. Continue with courage.

The question I ask you today is “do you believe that you can make changes to your behavior that will positively impact how you live the rest of your life?”

This isn’t a trick question, the answer might seem like an obvious yes, yet our lack of belief in ourselves and our abilities often hold us back. The simple truth is this, if you believe that you can make changes to your behavior that will positively impact how you live the rest of your life- you will. And if you don’t, you won’t.

For years, YEARS, I have turned to food as my comfort. Any time something stressful reared its ugly head, I turned to my best friend forever, food. Food is the best friend you could ask for, it doesn’t judge, it doesn’t talk back and it’s always there for you. I learned this from a very young age during some sad times as a little girl, sitting in my Mom-Mom’s living room, eating my Hostess powered donuts. Their sweet delight was so soothing. It was like that spoonful of sugar that helped the medicine go down, everything was all better. But was it?

As I got older, I realized that turning to food for comfort only made me feel worse. It was a vicious cycle. When I’d feel angry, tired, lonely, sad, stressed, (fill in your emotion here), I would eat AND eat AND eat AND eat. Take that you BIG, BAD, problem! I’ll just eat until I make myself sick and then…I’ll eat some more. Yet when it was all said and done, I actually felt much worse, disappointed in myself and my lack of control.

Have you ever felt powerless to food? You tried to fight the good fight but in the end the food won? Here’s the good news. Y-O-U have the power within you to make a choice to take control over your eating. This is not willpower, this is wantpower.  The desire to be healthy, the want, the absolute need- has to be greater than the sacrifice. And it starts with a decision to take back the power from food. Is this easy? Heck no! If it was, the whole world would be thin. Is this doable? Yes. Is this maintainable? Yes.

So where to start? Start with an “I WILL statement”; end with an “INSTEAD I WILL” statement. This week, I will not overeat when I am feeling badly. Instead I will take a walk. Grab a piece of fruit. Read a book. Drink a glass of water. Call a friend. Play an online game.  I will do whatever it takes to distract myself from the overwhelming need to eat.

Change is possible my friends, if you make the choice, if you have the desire, if you have the wantpower. It has taken me years to change this behavior of turning to food for comfort. Of course, on occasion, I have setbacks. When I have a setback, I start fresh with the next meal; brushing myself off, making yet another choice to take control of my eating.

The extremely cold temperatures this past week were very hard on my trigeminal neuralgia. I was sick for 4 out of 7 days. I didn’t leave the house. I missed work and events. I was in a lot of pain. I was reminded of what my life could be like living with the reality of this illness. I started writing this blog post today because of my own personal victory. Even in excruciating pain and medicated, I did not turn to food. Several years ago, I gained back half of my weight loss because my neuralgia pain and sadness cause me to overeat. The girl on the left thought that food would make her feel better. The girl on the right knows that making healthy choices makes her feel better. 

What I realize now is that the neuralgia pain and sadness did not cause me to overeat, I caused myself to overeat and I am never, ever, going down that path again. My need to be healthy trumps my want for food. I WILL make the choice. I WILL take the power away from food. I WILL remember that my responses are my responsibility.

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In those choices lie our growth and our happiness." Disclaimer: the internet debates on the origin of this quote, most likely Viktor Frankl. I pulled it from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by  Stephen R. Covey.

Make the choice. Commit to the choice. Continue with courage.

Hugs and friendship,

Tara