I experienced a couple of really intense coaching sessions in the last few weeks that allowed me to understand the transition that I am experiencing. Without going into it specifically, I needed to talk about something that I absolutely did not want to discuss. I had to talk about it when I was screaming inside that I want to hide and not go there and pretend it isn't occurring. I accidentally blurted it out to a friend of mine while I was doing a heart to heart exchange of crap going on in our lives. And I felt the lift in my spirits immediately.
I had gone through an experience which prepped me for this, but I identified it as an off limits topic. I grudgingly answered the questions on my coaching session last week- and it allowed a tiny little leak in my wall that was holding an ocean of troubles in.
The thing is that this experience that I am referring to was a total not fair/blind-side me situation that had me reeling for days. I mean days and days of feeling in a funk and not feeling worthy and feeling like I must have done something wrong, even though I am only guilty of being an imperfect human who meant no harm. It was one of those situations that when you tell a couple (2 to be exact) friends about it, they are totally supportive, but somewhere deep inside you don't believe it. You relive a situation over and over and beat the crap out of yourself for reacting like you instead of like a different person. You know deep inside that you are not worthy of love and respect and decency.
Anyway, I am one to look for something good to come out of every situation, no matter how unfair and obnoxious, but I can see it today. Today I can see that I needed to face my fears and worries, that I was no longer the same person I was and I am transitioning. Not into a new me or anything, just transitioning into a new phase of life. The situation, as horrible as it was, released those little leaks in the wall and the flow has begun. I am beginning to flow into another stage of my life.
I realize this moment that I have truly begun to divest myself of the residual effects of a lifetime of dieting. I have quit using my exercise app, I never count calories or track my food. I am understanding the lingering thought blockages from restriction and am reliving some of the ways I felt before I lost weight. I have days when I feel horrible in my body, but I now understand that there is some emotional thing that I need to deal with to make that feeling go away. Though I don't consider dieting- I sometimes feel my brain want to grasp onto the safety of restriction and overexercising. Safety that came from diverting my attention to what was really bothering me to obsessing about how I looked. And I did that for so many many years. It is never too late.
After a really brutal coaching session yesterday, Anne-Sophie said to me- do you realize that you are not dealing with all these feelings with food at all? I got the biggest smile on my face. It is true. I just don't. Wow, that is huge. No hiding food from people, no arguing with myself over what and when to eat, no spending massive amounts of money on things to eat or items to use to exercise with. No supplements that seriously do nothing for you anyway. This was a happy moment.
The flow that began during these latest coaching sessions has continued today. I have identified two more HUGE memories of people that have abandoned/turned on me for a reason that is still not known. And I may never know why these things happened, and the thing is that it doesn't matter anymore. Now that I know that these things drive some very deep seated fears of mine, it is much easier to examine these painful memories. It also makes it easier to see how I sometimes distance myself from people that young Debi sees as a danger. A danger that they will leave me somehow and I won't have the pleasure of their friendship anymore. That I am not worthy of them keeping in touch with me. That I will be abandoned.
I am saying these things because I know that there are a lot of people who might read this are at the beginning of their journey and you NEED to know that it is possible to change. I had completed the first "successful" diet of my life 5 years ago, and felt just as horrible about myself as I had before. I got to my goal weight and kept lowering it. I got to my goal weight and all I could think of was I didn't want to do this all my life. I just didn't want to DO this all the time. And then I started looking around for some sort of guidance and Isabelle Foxen Duke said on a podcast with Anne-Sophie (first time I ever heard of my sweet coach A-SR) that she didn't want to think about food every god damn minute of her life..... I grabbed that phrase and have held it tight because it spoke a basic truth that I knew was valid.
It is simple but it is not easy. It isn't difficult, it is different. And it is worth every penny, every tear, every page in a journal and meditation time and facing of fears and realizing how you can live an authentic life - a life that is large as you want.... a life where you don't have to shrink to meet the needs of someone else.
And we are all more than good enough for that.
