I don’t want to write this blog today.
I have just flown overnight, delivered a great workshop to a wonderful group of people, and now I’m flying home and I want to have a sleep instead.
So why am I writing?
Because it’s important. It’s important for me to distill my thoughts into words, important to me that you hear them – I am writing as I feel my writing is important for both of us…
…Important enough to take a few deep breaths, ask for a cup of bad aeroplane coffee, and begin typing.
As you know by now, the non-dieting approach we follow is more user-friendly than it’s bigger, meaner, uglier dieting brother, but (unfortunately), it’s not all roses and sunshine. I’m sorry to say, but it’s likely at some points your change will require some discomfort. But unlike the discomfort of endless dieting, painful physical activity, and relentless body-hatred, these pains are “good pains” – I call them growing pains.
When we were little, my twin brother Heath used to get growing pains. The pains were in his legs, and I remember his frustrated, wearied, and visceral yelling, groaning, and crying. It was so severe at times that sometimes our loving mum or dad would fall asleep rubbing his legs, or ask me to take over. I know that at that time if someone would have come in and said “Heath, I can take the pain away, but you won’t grow anymore” he probably would have accepted. But thank god he didn’t have that option. He had to endure his pain in order to grow into a strong, vibrant, healthy person, and maybe at times so do you.
I’m not saying it has to be hard to be worthwhile, or that things have to get worse before they get better, but just that if some discomfort is indicated in moving forward, that you make a bit of room for it.
After all, there’s discomfort either way, isn’t there? Many people I see tell me they are in a “comfort zone”, and I tell them I think they are actually in a “familiar discomfort zone” – if they were in a comfort zone, they wouldn’t want me to help them get out of it! So if you know it is important for you to experience some discomfort (be it stress, anxiety, guilt, uncertainty, awkwardness, loneliness, or just plain effort) take a deep breath, find your courage, get the support you need and make yourself worth the discomfort!
Maybe you will choose to put up with the “hassle” of planning some more meals in order to develop a healthier way of eating, or make room for some butterflies about returning to a type of movement you really want to get better at, or accept someone’s guilt trip for not having an extra drink or two (maybe as you want to spend your Sunday planning the meals and doing the movement 😛). Or maybe it’s something deeper, bigger, more uncomfortable you need to make room for in order to grow in the way you really want to. I don’t have to tell you, as you read these words you know what these things are.
Like me with this writing, which has actually become kind of fun, once you get over the initial discomfort, you’ll thank yourself for being brave, feel a combination of relief and self-satisfaction, and maybe even realize it wasn’t as hard as you thought…
Good luck ☺
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