When You're Not Even Sure How to Start Trusting Your Body
Hi loves!I'm back after taking a week off from the blog while Paul and I traveled down to South Carolina to visit family over the Christmas holiday and then have also just been doing a lot of processing of this past year and dreaming for the year to come. There's something so beautiful about the newness of January 1st. Something so fresh and clean. I admit I could hardly sleep last night even, just with all the excitement for the year to come.
You see, 2018 was a good year. Not because everything went according to plan. Actually, quite a bit did NOT go to plan. At least my plan and the things I thought would make it a good year. But I've learned so much this past year through those things that didn't go my way. And I'm grateful for where I am now because of them.Maybe you're like me and had a few things not go according to plan. Maybe this year wasn't your favorite. Maybe you're feeling this fresh start is much needed and you're hoping that things will start looking up. Take heart! If there's one thing I've really come to understand more and more this year it's that all things work for our good...both the highs and the lows.
This year one of my personal goals is to help more women find the freedom that I now experience each and every day, specifically around food and exercise. If you are new around here and don't know my story, I'd love to share some realness with you and share my own struggles in the past with an eating disorder. You can get to know me a little better here as well as through joining the email list (PS: you'll also get a free video course walking you through the principles of intuitive eating!).Maybe you're like, "Yeah, that all sounds good. I just don't know where to start," I'm here for you! Let me help you start by learning to trust your body.
START BY LETTING GO
You see, freedom around food and confidence in your body starts by letting go. And in order to let go, you need to trust.Start by letting go of......the need to control everything....not allowing yourself to feel and process emotions....rules around eating and exercise....the fear of messing up. None of us are perfect....the image of having to have everything figured out....misconceptions you have about what is and isn't healthy....relationships that aren't healthy....your current image of health equalling thinness.What do you need to let go of to start trusting your body?
CHALLENGE CURRENT BELIEFS
Next, it's time to start challenging your current beliefs. Challenge things that you have just believed without actually knowing the truth. These could be things such as health myths that aren't backed by science. For example, practicing a belief that carbs or sugar are bad. Challenge thoughts that come to you as you go throughout your day that are not uplifting or conducive for a healthy relationship with food or your body. Maybe you choose to write down these thoughts and next to them write your truth.Trusting your body has to start with clearing away the thoughts that have lead you to practice disordered eating and other unhealthy practices in the past.
FILL UP WITH THOSE THINGS THAT ENCOURAGE BODY TRUST...AND DITCH THOSE THAT DONT
Lastly, it's time to fill your life with as many things that encourage body trust as possible. These are all the things in your life, from actual tangible items to more vague things like who you follow on Instagram, that help you trust your body instead of fearing it.Likewise, it's important to continue to test the things in your life that may be contributing to negative body thoughts. So that gal on Instagram who keeps posting about her new diet or her before and after photos of weight loss, unfollow her. Whatever isn't serving you, you have permission to simply unfollow!I'd also encourage you, as I do in many of my posts, to ditch your scale. It's immensely difficult to learn body trust when you continue to weigh yourself.Trusting your body doesn't happen overnight. It can take a lot of time, patience, and diligence on your part. But, girl, it is so worth it! A life of freedom, one in which you're no longer obsessing over food and being "skinny-enough" is so worth fighting for!Let me know in the comments below one thing you're going to start today to encourage your own growth in trusting your body...