If you're in the US, the recent news around gun violence in our schools and communities, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights (especially trans rights), etc. may be weighing heavily on your mind. If this is you, know that you're not alone because I've lost hours of sleep in the last few weeks. Like many of you, I have a myriad of emotions but mostly I feel grief, overwhelm, and powerless because I have little control over what is happening. Do you feel this way sometimes too?
I've had plenty of clients say that they feel this same sense of overwhelm and powerlessness when they've just started their intuitive eating journey, are struggling with peri/menopause, have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes or diabetes, an autoimmune illness, or their labs indicate elevated cholesterol, etc.
The natural response when things feel out of control is to try to regain control somehow. While is a logical response, it often doesn't come easy. This is because many of the things we tend to try and control only give us the illusion that they can be controlled.
Below is a short but not exhaustive list of things we do when we are trying to regain control:
Weight, body size, and shape
Our food by practicing restrictive behaviors/dieting (a.k.a. undereating)
Other people
What other people think of us
How did trying to control those things work out for you?
Now for the good news. Below is a list of a few tangible things that are within your control:
Our attitudes, actions, and reactions
How much time we spend on social media and who we follow
Boundaries we set with others, around our time, etc.
Spending time with people that nourish us emotionally
How we speak to ourselves
Our spending/budgets
How often we're checking in with our bodies
Harmful habits and/or patterns
Our self-care practices (sleep, movement, time management, etc.)
How we dress ourselves
Nourishing our bodies with foods that put their needs first
Organization/cleanliness of our environments
The illusion of control in a society so hyper-focused on physical appearance is powerful so if this is hard to accept, it's understandable. Even so, I encourage you to keep focusing on the long list of things within your control and see the freedom and peace they can offer you.
If you're feeling that you could benefit from getting 1:1 support because you're still trying to control the uncontrollable, let's connect to see how coaching can help you move past this.