Don’t take holiday stress lying down: unless you’re lying in a bath or bed with a phenomenal book.
Happy December Thrivers!
I still need to get my niece and nephew something for Christmas. She’s 22 years old and he’s 19. Something small, but nice because I also include a gift card. Any ideas? She’s very girly. He’s just a nice college kid.
Would love ideas: Wendy@theInspiredEater.com.
Pearl One
Politics completely aside, I was driving with my son, 20, the other day and heard him laughing about “Elon Musk’s latest rocket fizzle.”
My son was smirking like, “Musk is so lame.”
My “kid” is at the age when he doesn’t listen to me anymore (which makes for super happy times, for sure), so I had to let the “teaching moment” pass, but I can share the moment with you.
When Musk is shooting up rockets that tank, he’s merely doing what all super successfuls do: at every fail point, their brains are click-clacking away and they are learning as they go.
They’re like, “okay, we’re not at optimal performance.
Yet.”
That’s it. They fail and fail and fail until they hit the target. And that’s how I lost the 55-pounds and how I maintain/preserve today.
Consider taking out your journal and writing to these questions:
- How do I think about failing in general?
- Why am I fine with “failing” when I was learning how to make a pie crust, but I’m not okay with “failing” around smart eating? (Given that our new century has brought us a lot of new info. to the table like developing habits.)
- What do I tell myself when I’ve goofed up again?
- What exactly is failure – to me – around food, my body and eating?
- How do I cheerlead myself?
- How do I harass myself?
- As a kid, who talked about my weight, and how do I think my weight was perceived?
- What’s one new thing that I know today about losing weight that I didn’t know ten years ago?
The idea is to essentially have a conversation with your unconscious about how you engage (at a deeper level) with the idea of failure and how it’s affecting your Smart Eating Lifestyle. ♥
Pearl Two
I meta-noticed that I like to think of so-called “failures” as life essentially saying to me, “Your attempts at such-and-such project have been impressive, but no cigar. Try again.”
It’s often seemed to me that as I work to bring a dream into the world, Life is pushing back like, “Show me. Show me how much this really matters to you.” And, “no, just doing x,y and z won’t cut it. You’ve got to make it crystal clear to me if you want to bring your dream to fruition.”
If the Smart Eating Path feels elusive to you as if, “this never works for me.” Just chill and think to yourself, “hey, it’s just Life pushing back on me.”
Getting frustrated and annoyed is normal when we’re grappling with something huge. Yes, I know that you feel like you’re attempting to lose and maintain forever, but what we’re doing here cannot be put into the same category with “I’ve always been trying.” No, you haven’t been trying with these micro-tools we have today like, always carry a cold-tote, Eat Before You Eat and so on.
At that, get on with your learning curve. ♥
Pearl Three
In Pearl Three we do a deep-dive on James Clear’s book Atomic Habits
James Clear writes, “Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It is a system to improve, an endless process to refine.”
I love the meaning behind this quote.
This is cerebral way to say, “just keep improving on a daily basis what you want to transform.” James is big on saying that if we just do better by 1% a day, we’ll make enormous progress over the long run. That idea never spoke to me. I’m too literal, I was like, “how will I know it’s 1% and not 5%?!” But he’s really just telling us that small positive shifts every day add up.
Challenge yourself to look for good ideas when you’re around people who don’t have an issue with weight and food. Watch what they do. Be willing to walk up to strangers and ask questions. Be willing to tell yourself that there’s always new ways to continually improve on our forever-loss.
Pearl Four
Welp, I loved the first book about Hendrik Groen’s life so much that I ordered the sequel, On the Bright Side: The New Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 85 Years Old by Hendrik Groen and am loving it as much as the first.
The writer’s voice is like having hot chocolate with whipped cream on top, cat in lap on a snowy afternoon. I found it to be a very comforting and gentle read.
In diary form for a full year, the book details the life of a charming senior citizen living in an senior person’s home in Amsterdam.
Sounds boring, but it is an adorable read. I’m only halfway through the sequel, but these two books will be gifts to my aunt in her 70s. Highly recommend. ♥
Pearl Five
“If you so choose, every mistake can lead to greater understanding and effectiveness. If you so choose, every frustration can help you to be more patient and more persistent.” ♥
Ralph Marston
Once I’ve sent this post to you, I’m wrapping my kid’s keyboard in lights! It’s funny, but there are so many ways “to do” Christmas. And now I’m thinking, “let’s hear from our Thrivers in Australia!! How do you do Christmas when it’s blazing hot?”
If you like this post, I hope you’ll send it to a friend or family member. And I’d also love a follow on Instagram and Facebook.
TGIF! And have a wonderful weekend!
♥, Wendy
P.S. Are you new to the Inspired Eater? Welcome!! This blog won’t make much sense until you first read the Aunt Bea post (and you’ll find Aunt Bea on this page to the right under my short bio). On your cell you’ll see it immediately following the first post. After you enter your email address, the Aunt Bea article will be sent to your email’s inbox. If it’s not there, you might check the spam folder. And always feel free to email me at Wendy@TheInspiredEater.com and I’ll get Aunt Bea right to you!
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I am not an expert, a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or a nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ♥
5 Comments
All of your pearls are valuable, but the most awesome one to me is #1. I am learning from my mistakes instead of allowing them to take the wind out of my sails.
This made me misty. I like that pearl too. Thank you so much for writing.
Wendy
I feel like this entire post was written just for me today. Boy I needed it. Thank you!
I’m so glad C!!
Thank you C!!