Words matter. Our words reflect our perceptions and our perceptions are our reality. How would you describe your life?
I’m willing to bet the majority of people reading this note would use the word ‘busy’ as one of their adjectives. I do, although I’m committed to weeding that word from my vocabulary. There are other loving authentic phrases that accurately reflect the average day in my life like: blissfully chaotic, overwhelmed & satisfied, and sometimes... it’s the most flavourful shit sandwich.
I love what I’m doing and I rarely have it ‘all together’. At this pace, I likely seldom ever will, and I’m finally very okay with that....pretty much….on most days.
Releasing ‘busyness’ as a badge of honour started with learning to say ‘yes’ to what really mattered. By saying yes to something, I automatically said no to something else. When I said ‘yes’ to busy, to caffeine, to sugar, to over scheduled, to gobs of social media, I was saying ‘no’ to sleep, to exercise, to fresh air, to compassionate self talk, to making time for a great diet, to time with family and friends and to finding calm/stillness. I had it all ass-backwards.
By saying ‘yes’ to what matters, the day leaves no time for what doesn’t matter. Saying ‘no’ stops being all that hard.
We are all different... some of us are just getting going on the journey to better health, some have been on this path and for some time and just want to learn more. Our job is to be clear about what our priorities are, and then be committed to them.
By the way, commitment is just gathering yourself and taking yourself forward. It is not a ‘thing’ you need to be perfect at. Recommitting to what you really want is the key. Recommitting to opening up, recommitting to learning, recommitting to wondering.
We are going to make mistakes, we are going to have kitchen blunders, we are going to slide back into old patterns. It doesn’t help to beat ourselves up or beat up those around us. What really makes a difference is to say to ourselves “okay, what do I really want in this situation?” and then recommit to it.
Take a big breathe, slowly release it, appreciate yourself in that moment and then begin again. Begin with the next food purchase, the next snack, the next meal. Learn from the experience (especially the stressful ones! - and take time to wonder).