Accepting the struggle

 When I first started my journey I was in the honeymoon phase. Things were going along swimmingly. I felt happy and confident. After a few months, those happy, this is easy feelings started to fade. The journey feels unfair, like it’s taking up too much of my free time. Tracking, weighing, measuring, cooking and reading about success strategies isn’t that much fun anymore. The work begins to feel annoying and downright unpleasant at times. Thoughts echo in my head. I don’t want to! Just one! And I wonder what brought that up? I worked hard for 7 days and then I weigh in and see to a loss that feels much too small compared to the effort I’d put in. Then it happens. A slip or binge and my confidence evaporates. My emotional foundation feels shaken. I was shocked that it happened. But I was doing so good! Oh no! Say it isn’t so!  

But this time I was armed with new knowledge from all those blogs I copied and pasted. Reading blogs showed me that struggling is a universal experience. I had the unrealistic expectation for myself to not struggle. Ha! I learned from your honesty that maintenance is a struggle at times. Struggling is not failing at all. It’s just part of the keep on keeping on.

 

So this time when began to experience those hard journey realities, I was better prepared to accept and deal with things differently. The struggle didn’t have the power to overwhelm me. No thoughts of failure or quitting. This time I just allowed myself to feel those feelings. I picked myself up and carried on. Acceptance of the struggle is a necessary part of the journey. 


Thanks for your honest blogs. They explained so many things that really help.

Comments

  1. OneKidsMomAugust 6, 2021 at 2:37 AM

    We were discovering the same things ourselves, and shared with our friends! Thank you for spreading the word. It's not easy. Some days are real struggles. But it's worth it to persevere, beyond any slips or backsliding... and gee, it sure helps if we have a little help, understanding, and encouragement from our friends!

    ReplyDelete
  2. 4A-HEALTHY-BMIAugust 6, 2021 at 7:44 AM

    I agree about there being phases we go through, on long term projects like this. I also agree that it’s super helpful to know I’m not alone, that we all struggle!

    I feel like it’s a delicate dance between doing enough to make noticeable progress but not getting so obsessed that fatigue and resentment set in.

    The harder I’m “efforting” as WATERMELLEN calls it, the bigger the resentful backlash I seem to experience, when IT (inner toddler) gets bored with the process.

    So by trial and error I have to pare down to the essential actions needed to make progress and then frame those things as just “stuff I have to do, like taking a shower.”

    (Full disclosure - sometimes during 2020 even taking a shower felt like a major accomplishment. LOL)

    And it really seems that I need a limit on outside stressors in order to do this, at all. It’s as if I have a limited amount of emotional bandwidth and if external stuff sucks all of it up, there’s nothing left for dealing with weight stuff.

    Hooray for the perspective you continue to gain, in this whole process, and for sharing it! 🙂❤️

    ReplyDelete
  3. speded2 (Jeanne)August 6, 2021 at 7:04 PM

    My exuberance and expectations seem to lead to my downfall. You call it the honeymoon phase and that is most fitting. Spark, and the wonderful members found there, and now here, help me to find a balance and perseverance for all the hard work necessary to achieve better health.

    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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