I use walking as a major source of stress relief, the movement to keep myself "in shape" (be able to climb every mountain and kayak every sea- now sing that to yourself in the "Sound of Music" song and see if that leaves your head anytime soon. :) ) and as an excuse to take pictures. These may or may not be any particular order, and that can change on any given day. Anyway, I usually listen to podcasts while I am walking.
The podcasts I listen to are the diet recovery type (because I don't know what else to listen to right now) - including the one that I am a part of I sometimes listen to my music but regretfully my phone doesn't have my favorite playlists anymore--- an unfortunate occurrence when I had to replace my phone last summer. I have to reload them from my Dropbox at some point, but you know- sometimes things like that just don't get done.
The problem with listening to podcasts while you are walking is that you forget what in the world you were inspired by whilst walking, and this is getting to be a real problem. Am I going to have to take along a notepad?? I get distracted by many things- mostly my incredibly active imagination- and I indeed forget by the end of the hour or so. sigh. I will listen to them again soon, but I did retain a memory from the end of a different podcast than Escape Diet Prison. The ones I listen to are really good, but today it was apparent to me how different I am, in many ways, than most of the people who participate in the body positive/anti-diet sort of media.
A woman was chatting with the host about her history and what she does and she talked about how back several years ago she was just a child and so different--- and then she said she was 26. (All of my children are older than her) hmmmm. I am not saying that what this lovely person wasn't interesting or relevant or authentic. She was- but when I heard her tell her age, I started thinking about how different things were "when I grew up".
Maybe the different isn't so much the when-I-grew-up sort of thing, but instead the how-long-I-have-been-doing-this sort of thing. I don't mean at all to imply that younger people haven't gone through a lot of shit in their life. People who have really suffered the physical and emotional effects of an eating disorder or disordered eating of any sort clearly have been through combat. And recovery from that is brutal.
I have been through that combat, and it is not fun, but it does lead to a much better life. But beyond that, I have been around a while and I have probably never had a truly comfortable relationship with my body. Until now. I think back to my 20's and 30's and 40's and know that I was on a constant quest to change myself.
What began in my early teens with a casual comment that I would grow into my "baby fat", my mother admitting that she smoked to keep her weight down, the magazines that even then plugged different products that would guarantee weight loss. It was hard to find cute clothes, or at least that was my perception at "my size". We only had one car and we lived a distance from the mall and clothes stores.... and manufacturers really did not make stylish clothes in larger sizes. If you think that you have a hard time now (it seems recently- in the last 2/3 years- that this is getting better: thank you internet) you should have been around then.
Forward to my 20's when I had my three boys. I was cautioned over and over not to gain too much weight (while pregnant)- for no other reason that I could see than to keep my weight down. I tested fine for everything including gestational diabetes and all the other lovely things that can happen. While no one actively told me to lose my baby weight, that was expected. In spite of no internet, there was pressure to regain your pre pregnancy body. Ladies I knew complained about how they grew shoe sizes or how their waists were never the same. Some hated that the boobs they grew during pregnancy then shrunk and then sagged. You know because we want to stay the exact same from the age of 14 on until we are 85..... and those changes are so bad. (sarcasm alert)
As the kids grew, I continued on my quest to lose weight, and was successful once or twice. But as diets do, once you quit or are bingeing in response to the restrictions, they fail. I was waiting for an art teaching job to open, so I was biding my time until I could begin a full time job. All the while wishing for a different body. Ignoring the fact that I was very frustrated and impatient to start a job I wanted. As we all have, I was dealing with my own things in my life and all the while - so not happy.
I remember waking up for years thinking how I was going to "start today" to lose weight and then by the end of the day - I did things to make myself perceive that I failed. I focused on my eating, I beat myself up if I didn't get the correct amount of exercise, I didn't feel like I had enough money to invest in the programs that were actually in our remote area- things like Weight Watchers or what have you. Instead I used the information that a friend had as she used it, and she shared. I bought special food, restricted my calories, recorded everything and eventually got so sick of it all that I gave up. Or I should say allowed myself to just drop it gradually.
I did this with a few programs, lost weight and then gained it back. And then felt awful, all the while our culture encouraged that feeling of failure by always having a new program that was "sure to work when other things let you down". Always a tone of- wow you loser, you can't even follow a simple diet. I felt like I couldn't do anything right because I was always so hungry I caved.
Fast forward to the internet and me getting a smart phone and eventually a computer and WIFI. And there was my"savior" a health and fitness app that helped me keep track of my food and exercise. I had my phone with me always so I could fill in the form all the time and ALSO I had **friends** who helped support my quest.
I am not going to say that using the app and finding these friends was a bad thing because 2 or 3 of those people have become some of my closest friends. I can not regret that time, as I actually came into my own - and most likely because of my age- I began doing things EVEN IF I was afraid. My parents did not encourage doing unsafe things, my husband certainly does not, and I for the most part found "safe" friends. But once online, I found not "safe" friends- not that they were creepy, but they did not encourage me to stay exactly the same and not break out of my shell. My safe friends encouraged me to do things I didn't think I could do. One of them constantly challenged me to do things I implied I couldn't. And then I did.
Perhaps all these things happened because I grew up in a time when we were much less connected, and we lived on a farm far from our neighbors and I loved 10 miles from school. My parents very much kept to themselves and we socialized with only a few families, most were relatives. I understand how I am a product of my environment and of my own personality tendencies.
Anyway, I find I have a very different perspective on life these days, and it is frequently underscored when I am interacting with the many younger friends that I have. Just because you are different doesn't mean you are wrong, and just because you are older doesn't mean your view is not important. We have a lot to share and a lot to teach, but it is very good to listen for alternative points of view as well. But know that you have more wisdom than you can ever imagine and when you blossom and trust yourself and believe that you are worthy of sharing your thoughts. You are more than good enough to contribute to this world.
Sunday, April 23, 2017
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Good enough
An interesting side effect of stopping restrictions, over-exercising and generally escaping the diet prison mentality is the fact that your mind is open to a whole lot more things. Many of these things are positive, but sometimes what happens is your other insecurities pop up!
This is not exactly a pleasant experience, but it is a place from which personal growth can flourish. I, like every other person in the world, am haunted by feelings of inadequacy. Of course in an area that I get the most artistic and personal satisfaction, but yet I never feel like I can measure up to those I admire. I imagine it is because I want to be "GOOD" at my personal passion of photography.
My issue is my perceptions of others. I perceive that they have the way of thinking that is technical and mechanical and computer literate and they have extreme attention to detail and unlimited patience, knowledge, money and time- in other words: the ability to be a way better photographer than I am. Lol. I am exaggerating, but seriously, this is the path that I lead myself on when I look at the work of the people I admire the most. It never occurs to my hyper-critical mind that perhaps they go through the same processes and struggles that I do. Or the fact they all focus on one or two types of photography and don't do the same things I do. And seriously how nice they are and how helpful they always seem to be if you ask for advice.
I doubt that these people would agree with my perceptions of them, and indeed I hamper my growth sometimes by getting distracted by all the stuff I like to do in addition to photography. The saying goes- a jack of all trades, master of none.
As an art teacher, I definitely am a jackie of all trades- I can draw, paint, do clay, print making, etc, and I can hold the hand (figuratively) of my students as I go, helping them feel successful and teaching them about life and relationships and work ethic and creativity and perseverance. They think I can do everything. And if I can't, I can figure out how to fix it.
When I get out into the adult world, things are a little less full of admiration. And I occasionally take this fact as rejection of any skills I actually do have.... oy.
Ok, so this isn't really all about photography, it is about the things I reflected on when this came up in my most recent coaching session. I need to step back and think about things more realistically, less full of the feelings of inadequacy and insecurity. I went through these feeling about my art teaching a few years ago, and I have worked through that fairly satisfactorily.
The good thing about not being in Diet Prison is that you have so many other things that you can do with your life other than plan, execute and regret the things that you eat. Fun activities that you can participate in besides figuring out how to burn the most calories in the most efficient way. Ways to keep yourself occupied that does not involve research on the latest food fads, exercise trends, and fitness apps and apparatus.
But we have, lying in wait, the real issues that bother us. These issues are ready to pop up when we are not paying attention. They make us doubt ourselves and our go to response is to turn inward and blame ourselves for things we never learned or interests that never served us. We are face to face with a job we still hate, a relationship that is toxic for our mental health, or being overwhelmed with people taking advantage of our unwillingness to disappoint someone and therefore we end up doing things that we smile and say we are fine with, but underneath we are seething and resentful. The true issues that are still there and bubble into our consciousness.
It seems that these thing like to happen when you are innocently washing dishes, driving your car or when someone makes comments to you that alarm you. You don't have the distraction of hating your body, but that might still be the go to reaction. I find I have STILL times when I get unhappy with the way I freaking look in reaction to a great amount of stress in some aspect of my personal life. We must deal with the underlying things that really, REALLY are there and causing us pain. (Photography isn't a real painful topic, but it is important enough to me, and deeply personal, that it makes a good example)
SO, self care: self coaching..... paid coaching.... meditation.... deep breathing..... journaling.....
this is my arsenal of tools that help me get ahold of myself. So I can get back to feeling light and easy again. So I can take another step down the path of true healing. If you are in this place, know that it is normal. Know that you can do this, you can face your life without the shield of dieting. You can deal with your problems past and present and not blame your body for them. You don't have to restrict your food and make yourself smaller to please those around you. You, like me- we are more than good enough to take up our space.
This is not exactly a pleasant experience, but it is a place from which personal growth can flourish. I, like every other person in the world, am haunted by feelings of inadequacy. Of course in an area that I get the most artistic and personal satisfaction, but yet I never feel like I can measure up to those I admire. I imagine it is because I want to be "GOOD" at my personal passion of photography.
My issue is my perceptions of others. I perceive that they have the way of thinking that is technical and mechanical and computer literate and they have extreme attention to detail and unlimited patience, knowledge, money and time- in other words: the ability to be a way better photographer than I am. Lol. I am exaggerating, but seriously, this is the path that I lead myself on when I look at the work of the people I admire the most. It never occurs to my hyper-critical mind that perhaps they go through the same processes and struggles that I do. Or the fact they all focus on one or two types of photography and don't do the same things I do. And seriously how nice they are and how helpful they always seem to be if you ask for advice.
I doubt that these people would agree with my perceptions of them, and indeed I hamper my growth sometimes by getting distracted by all the stuff I like to do in addition to photography. The saying goes- a jack of all trades, master of none.
As an art teacher, I definitely am a jackie of all trades- I can draw, paint, do clay, print making, etc, and I can hold the hand (figuratively) of my students as I go, helping them feel successful and teaching them about life and relationships and work ethic and creativity and perseverance. They think I can do everything. And if I can't, I can figure out how to fix it.
When I get out into the adult world, things are a little less full of admiration. And I occasionally take this fact as rejection of any skills I actually do have.... oy.
Ok, so this isn't really all about photography, it is about the things I reflected on when this came up in my most recent coaching session. I need to step back and think about things more realistically, less full of the feelings of inadequacy and insecurity. I went through these feeling about my art teaching a few years ago, and I have worked through that fairly satisfactorily.
The good thing about not being in Diet Prison is that you have so many other things that you can do with your life other than plan, execute and regret the things that you eat. Fun activities that you can participate in besides figuring out how to burn the most calories in the most efficient way. Ways to keep yourself occupied that does not involve research on the latest food fads, exercise trends, and fitness apps and apparatus.
But we have, lying in wait, the real issues that bother us. These issues are ready to pop up when we are not paying attention. They make us doubt ourselves and our go to response is to turn inward and blame ourselves for things we never learned or interests that never served us. We are face to face with a job we still hate, a relationship that is toxic for our mental health, or being overwhelmed with people taking advantage of our unwillingness to disappoint someone and therefore we end up doing things that we smile and say we are fine with, but underneath we are seething and resentful. The true issues that are still there and bubble into our consciousness.
It seems that these thing like to happen when you are innocently washing dishes, driving your car or when someone makes comments to you that alarm you. You don't have the distraction of hating your body, but that might still be the go to reaction. I find I have STILL times when I get unhappy with the way I freaking look in reaction to a great amount of stress in some aspect of my personal life. We must deal with the underlying things that really, REALLY are there and causing us pain. (Photography isn't a real painful topic, but it is important enough to me, and deeply personal, that it makes a good example)
SO, self care: self coaching..... paid coaching.... meditation.... deep breathing..... journaling.....
this is my arsenal of tools that help me get ahold of myself. So I can get back to feeling light and easy again. So I can take another step down the path of true healing. If you are in this place, know that it is normal. Know that you can do this, you can face your life without the shield of dieting. You can deal with your problems past and present and not blame your body for them. You don't have to restrict your food and make yourself smaller to please those around you. You, like me- we are more than good enough to take up our space.
The last couple of weeks...
I have had a very busy and sort of stressful couple of weeks here, I am presently on a break from school- as short one, but still- and I just listened to our latest podcasts. There seems to be some issues with ITunes and the podcast library, which is disturbing. Hopefully I will be able to link this up soon.
It is interesting how little things pop out at you when you are least expecting it- this happened to me just recently, and I am so happy to say I had the tools to deal with it.
In short, I had an exchange with a person who talked in great detail on how they restrict and what foods they do and don't eat and then went on to do some minor size shaming as well. I just don't hear that very often anymore. I also did not manage to get "into it" because it was just not worth it and wasn't the time or place.
Immediately before this event, I had some big body acceptance moments- as in, I was feeling bad about parts of me and it manifested itself while I was putting on an outfit.... which made me really edgy and cranky. The next day while getting ready in the morning I suddenly understood what was going on. I don't want to make it seem like my entire interaction with this person was horrible, I love this friend so much, but that aspect of her makes my eye twitch.
I found I was able to step back from the whole situation and look at my reactions with curiosity and interest. I was able to redirect my brain and feelings- I had a real hard time the next day, but I was able to synthesize the whole thing and come to a satisfactory conclusion....
People are truly afraid of fat. They are afraid to have it, to experience it and to look at it. They make judgements that are not at all based on true authentic science, as related to health and I think they are just afraid to see it. I might be way off base, but maybe not so much.
It is a pervasive idea that being heavy is unhealthy, as previously discussed in my Bob v. Oprah post. So, lets turn inward and look at this. Is there any person in the world who MATTERS that will love you less because of weight? As Anne-Sophie said, she never looked at her mother and thought I would love my mother more if she lost x number of pounds. It just doesn't matter. My grandchildren won't enjoy being with me less or more based on weight. It's a battle some days.
Yeah, that's all I have today. :)
It is interesting how little things pop out at you when you are least expecting it- this happened to me just recently, and I am so happy to say I had the tools to deal with it.
In short, I had an exchange with a person who talked in great detail on how they restrict and what foods they do and don't eat and then went on to do some minor size shaming as well. I just don't hear that very often anymore. I also did not manage to get "into it" because it was just not worth it and wasn't the time or place.
Immediately before this event, I had some big body acceptance moments- as in, I was feeling bad about parts of me and it manifested itself while I was putting on an outfit.... which made me really edgy and cranky. The next day while getting ready in the morning I suddenly understood what was going on. I don't want to make it seem like my entire interaction with this person was horrible, I love this friend so much, but that aspect of her makes my eye twitch.
I found I was able to step back from the whole situation and look at my reactions with curiosity and interest. I was able to redirect my brain and feelings- I had a real hard time the next day, but I was able to synthesize the whole thing and come to a satisfactory conclusion....
People are truly afraid of fat. They are afraid to have it, to experience it and to look at it. They make judgements that are not at all based on true authentic science, as related to health and I think they are just afraid to see it. I might be way off base, but maybe not so much.
It is a pervasive idea that being heavy is unhealthy, as previously discussed in my Bob v. Oprah post. So, lets turn inward and look at this. Is there any person in the world who MATTERS that will love you less because of weight? As Anne-Sophie said, she never looked at her mother and thought I would love my mother more if she lost x number of pounds. It just doesn't matter. My grandchildren won't enjoy being with me less or more based on weight. It's a battle some days.
Yeah, that's all I have today. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)