I gained a few kilos during the times of pandemic in 2020. A bit less outdoor activities because of shitty weather, changes in my work – exercise routine because of a new job and…more chocolate and junk food.
After I finished work, got some dinner and exercised a bit, the day was over. And nothing exciting or fun happened. So guess what I did? I give myself a little treat in the form of chocolate. At least something nice for me in the whole day right?
It is interesting how our emotions can lead us to do things we know are bad for us.
The loop:
You feel bad → you have some chocolate to treat yourself and remind yourself that everything is ok.
Do this every day and in some time you get a problem.
This is how a bad habit starts, where you try to “numb the pain” and relieve yourself of dealing with your feelings, dealing with reality.
This is a short-term gain (numbness from the pain, forgetting about your “problems”) which is destroying any possibility of having what you actually want – a healthy, good-looking body.
Would I have this problem If I woke up energized, and positively minded to enjoy the day and enjoy the challenges?
Probably not.
How hard is it to say no to chocolate when you are on top of the game, feeling good and optimistic?
It’s easy. You can say yes or no to anything you desire. You desire a healthy and good-looking body and you say no to chocolate. You know exactly what you want and what it takes to get there. You know who you need to become. What kind of a person.
Everything starts with awareness. If you are not aware of what you are doing, and what bad habits have you started for dealing with your emotions, you can’t do anything about it.
I have done a lot of mindfulness training in the last couple of years, so I saw what was going on in my world and could react. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to change. I had to notice what was going on with me and deal with it.
It’s much easier to criticize and complain than to take a hard look at ourselves on the inside. To feel all the pain, anger, resentment, guilt and everything else that we have stored inside and is bubbling there.
It’s easier to indulge and at least momentarily forget about everything that is bothering us in our world. And then we deal with feeling bad because of our actions and still the real causes of our emotional problems are way below the surface of our consciousness.
But we have to ask ourselves who do we want to be? Are we headed in the direction we want to go? Because it’s the small everyday steps that matter in the long run. Otherwise, you wake up in some time and see it’s not the place where you wanted to go.
The problem is the small habits that are so easy to do, but also so easy not to do. Like choosing a healthy snack, exercising or reading. I want to recommend some great books on the topic of habits: The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and Atomic Habits by James Clear.
I would suggest reading at least one of these books (you can’t miss with any of these really, they are all great. Maybe The Slight Edge and Atomic Habits are a bit more actionable but The Power of Habits is a classic in the field).
Work on being aware of your actions, catch yourself when doing something you know that’s not good for you and ask yourself what is going on inside you at that point.
This will be an amazing start to getting to know yourself better.
All the best!
Lan
