Slowing down the runaway train
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Slowing down the runaway train
Aka giving myself some grace during the festive season
The other day I subscribed to a fellow entrepreneur’s newsletter and when I received their welcome email I was struck by how familiar it sounded. Eventually I realized that they had both copied and paraphrased (in the world of plagiarism this is called patchwriting) my own welcome email right here at Write More Weigh Less. Now, I am used to copycats in my business but this has never happened here in on my personal blog. It’s always upsetting when this happens but in this instance my attention was actually drawn to one particular sentence in my own welcome email when I looked it up to compare:
“You can expect to hear from me on Sundays with my weekly weigh-in and reflections on that week’s challenges and wins, and things I’ve learned.”
Well. That is clearly not happening!
I can’t even remember the last time I posted regularly on Sundays, let alone do weigh-ins. And it hit me how much I miss these weekly updates! I used to have a nice routine around them: Sundays would start with a weigh in, then we’d go out for breakfast at our favorite diner, followed by a lovely long walk along the sea. Once back home I’d settle into my cozy office to write my Sunday post. Those Sundays gave me such peace and calm.
There is no reason to not bring them back, other than my considerable resistance to getting back on my weight loss journey. I am nearing my all-time high on the scales, yet I can’t bring myself to stop this runaway train and start again. The holiday season is not helping, either, this is the time of year when I’ve always abandoned my programs anyway.
But you know what? One thing I have learned over the last few years is that beating myself up is the least helpful thing to do. There is a reason why so many of us struggle with this and it’s not just the thinking we’ve adopted thanks to diet culture. This kind of resistance goes much deeper than that. And that’s what I am acknowledging here. Actions and practicing new habits are definitely a good thing, but those of us who are emotional eaters and who use food to regulate our nervous systems also need to work on healing our traumas. Without that we’ll stay stuck in the all-too-familar diet cycle.
I am going to give myself some grace and plan to enjoy this festive season with its yummy foods, Christmas carols and cozy twinkle lights. I will spend some time over the holidays regrouping myself and my plan, and then start fresh in the new year. I actually have a vague plan for a 12-month program called “From Resistance to Resilience”, something to help me keep myself on track through the seasonal rhythm of the year. Let me know if you’d be interested in joining me! I don’t have too many details yet, this is going to be something that will unfold as I go along. It would be nice to not do it alone.
Well, that’s it for today. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate ❤️
Kerstin xo