To love your body is more than a trending hashtag
manuelita otero
How many times have you felt guilty because of something you ate? Or maybe you just couldn’t roll out of bed in time to do exercise and felt bad about it for the rest of the day. Many times, we have carefully drafted work out plans and diet ideas but we just can’t get started. What if the reason is not that we can’t take the first step, but that we are not at a starting point?
For a fresh start a blank page is needed, an honest new beginning. But many times when we want to start a journey on a healthy road that “blank page” is tainted with baggage from the past. There may be a lot of past affirmations, such as “I have never succeeded at eating healthy” or “I can’t eat just one cookie.” How can you start a new challenge when in your mind you have already decided that you can’t do it? Sometimes to have a fresh start the first thing you need to do is forgive yourself. Let it all go - the criticism, the past mistakes, the negative ways you may have treated your body, the days you should have gone to the gym, but instead sat in front of the T.V. – everything. When you leave the negative behind and truly forgive yourself, you can change that guilt and shame into love and positivity. To love your body is more than a trending hashtag or a famous spokesperson on T.V. That is good, but it only stays in the surface. To really love your body you have to go deeper. It's a very personal experience in which you finally face yourself, seeing the good and the ugly.
Want to put into practice self-forgiving when it comes to food? These steps may help:
Dig deep: Be honest with yourself; go to the root of the problem. You don’t gain anything if you lie to yourself. Accept you are not perfect and there is work to be done, but celebrate you are on the way.
Speak up: Sometimes loving yourself doesn’t seem to be enough because we are bombarded by so much negativity that it is easy to forget it. To solve this problem talk to yourself positively throughout the day. Don’t be shy, you are worth it.
Find solutions: At times you may be so focused on the problem that you spend all your energy on them instead of analyzing the possible solutions. You will always have problems; you need to identify them and deal with them, but don’t spend all your time on them.
Make a plan: Once you identify the problems, define a strategy to attack them. Be realistic, know yourself, find ways to avoid weaknesses and distractions. You are in control of your life, not food, not marketing, not your friends, not the excuses.
Enjoy the journey: this is a process, so get ready for a long journey and make sure you enjoy it. Celebrate small steps in the right direction and review your plans and goals often. Love your body and do what is right for it, not for others but for yourself.
Manuelita @manuelitaotero