Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 63 If at first, you don’t succeed…try, try again

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 63 If at first, you don’t succeed…try, try again

by | Mar 9, 2019 | Trust Your Gut

We have all heard this phrase at one time or another in our lives. First, it is a good way to reflect on failures, whether they are epic or tiny since it allows for the failure not to be the end, but rather a lesson. Every day is a struggle, for everyone on earth. We all have different issues, but we all have this in common. How can I be so sure? Nobody on this planet is perfect. Therefore, whether the struggle is internal or external, everyone is struggling with something. The degree of difficulty varies, but the similarity of the common thread we all share is evident.

Yesterday, I spent an hour writing a different post for Trust Your Gut this week. When I looked at the Yoast editor, I was thrilled, because I only had one issue to resolve, and it was not those troubling transition words. After a rough editing session on Wednesday, I was elated. I started working on the corrections, and then it happened. A writer’s worst nightmare. It was gone. All of my work, that beautiful post which will now be read by nobody, other than yours truly. I didn’t have a complete concept when I started writing however, I made it work. Until it disappeared.

Oh, how I wish I could make other things disappear so quickly

I wish I could type it up and delete my excess body fat for good. Wouldn’t that be amazing? What about being out of shape? Click of the mouse and I am an athlete. Wow! Wouldn’t that be super?

Or would it? Taking the easy way out of a struggle is quite possibly a dream which I share with millions of people. We are always looking for that one easy way to solve our problems. Above all, the truth is, if it was easy, it would not be an issue any more, because everyone would already be taking advantage of their own easy solution. So what is stopping us from making everything easy to do?

Consequences. There is always a catch. No matter what your struggle is about, the easy way always has one little thing which makes you think twice about going for it. The reason could be the cost, the maintenance effort, or it could be immoral. Everything has a price, and it isn’t always a monetary value.

Don’t forget about the lessons in life

No matter what you struggle with, being overweight or underweight, there are always takeaways from our journey that do not fit in a to go box. There is no one size fits all solution for people who struggle with their weight. Everyone has their own issues, and we all have to find our best way to be the healthiest version of ourselves that we can be. It isn’t about what society dictates, or the number on the scale. It isn’t about the clothes you wear to try and camouflage your imperfections.

Likewise, another thing we all have in common is the largest organ on our bodies. Our skin. No matter the colour, blemishes, freckles or imperfections, we all have skin. Thick or thin, it is essential for keeping us together; preventing us from falling apart, both literally and figuratively. Being comfortable in your own skin today is important. Right now! Stop comparing yourself to other people. You are a wonderful, unique individual, and you should be celebrated today and every day. Age, like weight, is just a number. How you feel is what should matter most of all!

Mind over matter

In my own journey, throughout my life thus far, I have learned that when I make healthier choices for myself, I feel better. This SHOULD be the easy answer for me. It is not always so simple. When I decide to put myself first and make better choices, there is usually an effort required on my part to make these decisions work. They are not the least effort possible options. I have to get up and move around to exercise. I have to put an effort into making myself be more active.

When it comes to eating healthier, it is always the best choice however it is not always an easy one. Planning and prep time add up, which makes it more complicated. I have to plan the grocery list, find what I need on sale, go to five different stores to get the ingredients, and then set up the time to prepare the meals. In addition, I must have the kitchen clean, before and after cooking. This is an idea I have blurred the lines on. I do get tired after all of this, and as a result I will sometimes take shortcuts like buying pre-chopped veggies to help speed up the process. While it is less expensive to prep everything myself, as I wrote above, the cost is not always monetary.

Losing time and finding energy

I try to be productive every day. Some days I am super productive, and other days I get nothing accomplished and do not know where the day escaped to. It is not a secret that I drink coffee and take multivitamins. I credit my energy to those two things I do, most of the time. Once in a blue moon, I will be motivated to do something that has been set aside for a while. On the other hand. there are other days I have appointments and I am on the go because I have to be.

As much as I don’t like focusing on the clock, it does help to be aware of how much time it takes to get things accomplished. However, I go through cycles of activity, cleaning sprees, cooking healthy food and taking me days to rest. All of these are important, and affect my health. When I am looking at a long list of things to do, it can be discouraging. For example, I am looking at this list, being long, in many areas of my life. I am working on myself, my home, my employment opportunities, and making the most of the time I have to do all of this.

Whatever I can or cannot do on a given day, does not make me less than my best. In other words, when I am true to myself every day, I am enough.

Since I am an overachiever, I would rather go all in than do anything part way. While I am trying to make changes for the better, there are other items on several different lists, also waiting for me to address them. I need to decide to accept what I can do as enough. As a result, this is ultimately what we all have to conclude. To go a bit further with this thought, we are worth the effort of striving for a better life, and the best we can do is enough.

Most importantly, I am all I was ever meant to be up until this very moment, and I will be better with each moment I choose to believe in myself in my future. It is time to let that little light inside of me shine bright, to lead the way to my path. Sometimes, I will go astray, but in doing so I am learning, or finding a better path. It is all up to me. I am comfortable in my own skin. It is a good way to be, and with this knowledge, I am ready to face my struggles again.

I feel like even though I have had issues this week, I am getting back to blogging as I remember from when I was consistently working at it. I hope you can get a sense of that too when you are reading. The work is familiar, and I am finally finding my way again, even with the new approach for SEO editing. How can I be so sure? I only have one answer, at this time.

Above all:

#TrustYourGut

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 17

Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 17

by | Jun 15, 2017 | Trust Your Gut

 

Trust Your Gut is a series of stories about real people with weight issues, and complications arising from those issues.  It will explain what the person is facing, what their options are, what they have decided to do to take action, and why they chose the path they are on.  Each person’s story will be based on truth, so it won’t all be happy, but it will be real.  The goal of this series is to get people talking about options that are available for people who have weight issues, on either end of the scale.  If you would like to contribute to this series, there is a contact form linked on my Home page for this blog.  I know there are people out there that want to help people like them; as I do.

 

The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name.  If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story.  The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors.  I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.

This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.

Here is  Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 17

You know when you want to eat something, and you know what you should eat and you know what you want to eat and you get the easier thing because it is easier and you already are so hungry that you don’t want to spend the extra ten minutes making the better thing to eat because you are hungry right now?  I feel like that a lot.  This has been another week of grab the easy thing because I don’t have enough food prep cooked, even though I cooked a chicken in my slow cooker the night before last.

Tonight I will make something.  I am thinking about making THM Wicked White Chili.  I have made this once before, with a few small adjustments, and it was really great!  So if I can get it in a pot before I go to bed, and get it in some mason jars in the fridge so it is ready to grab in the morning for my lunch, I will be on my way to being back on track, with minimal effort.  That is something I can totally get up and do.

After supper.  I have an errand to run, and that means I leave the house.  One of the best tips I have for living on a budget is to not leave the house.  The second I do, I know I am going to spend money.  I have done a lot of that over the last 20 years.  It is finally starting to pay off and add up.  Yes, I still have a budget, and yes, I am still working on it, but we have a little more breathing room at the moment.  So I don’t have to stay at home ALL OF THE TIME anymore.

If I don’t manage to make the chili tonight, I will prep some of the chicken for sandwiches tomorrow.  Or to go with my spinach in a salad.  I have some blue cheese dressing that is great with spinach.  Cucumber and tomatoes, green onion, and there is my salad.  I think that is what I will end up doing.  I have been known to eat the mini cucumber “straight up” like I picked it fresh from the garden.  I also have taken a knife to work to prep my salad during my lunch break, right before eating it.  I always have people looking at my lunches, especially my homemade leftover lunches.  I am not a PB & J kind of a lunch packer.  I like having food prepped to eat and ready to grab on my way out the door in the mornings.  It can be something I made for the whole week as I don’t always share my lunch with my husband.

The whole point of getting the chicken and popping it in the crock pot was to have the meat ready to go.  And it is in the fridge, still in the crock pot.  That is as far as I got.  I have been making excuses lately for not prep cooking, and I am going to have to stop doing that.  Yes,  it is easier to go get fast food.  But I have to keep reminding myself that I really enjoyed that chili the last time I made it, and I know it will be really good.  I made the chicken, so now I have to eat it. If my husband wasn’t a fan of this recipe, I would use up the spinach in the chili.  He liked it, so I am going to have to use it another way, maybe with scrambled eggs.

THM Wicked White Chili Recipe

I made it in a pot on the stove.  I used white kidney beans as I could not find the beans the recipe calls for.  I halved the measurements on the cumin and the chili powder.  I did not add any Greek yogurt.  I do not know where to get the chilies and tomatoes mixed, so I add mild chilies and extra stewed tomatoes.  I followed the rest of the recipe and it was delightful.

I go through phases.  Sometimes I try really hard to stay on plan, and other times I just make the wrong choice.  It is really all up to me, and if you read my story a few weeks ago, the monster has been louder again this week.  It wants fast food and junk food and all of the things that got me to the weight I am at today.  Sometimes I choose the wrong thing to eat because I am self-sabotaging my goals of a healthier lifestyle.  I have to keep fighting with myself, for myself.  I am the only one that can make those choices, and I really need to get serious about it.  Again.  It feels like a roller coaster at times, I am sometimes on track and doing well, and then the bottom falls out from under me and I stray from where I need to be going.

Right now, I can only imagine what it would be like to have lost the weight I need to lose.  I need to do it, for me, and for my health.  I need to keep reminding myself that I am worth the better choices and that I am worth the extra time and planning that prep cooking takes.  Otherwise, I will have to live with the consequences, and that is not how I want to be living my life.

Since I had the sinus infection, I have been needing to use my puffer a little more frequently.  I do find that it is hard to take a deep breath sometimes.  It has helped, and I am not using it on a daily, or even on a weekly basis, but sometimes I find my chest feeling tight, and I need to use it.  I guess that means I need to plan a real appointment with a doctor at the clinic.  I do not yet have a new family doctor.  I know it is important to get the appointment scheduled and go get it over with.  The anxiety is still making me hesitate, but I know, deep down, that I need to make the effort to take care of myself.  So the appointment needs to be scheduled, and then I need to go.  I think it is time for that lovely once a year check up, and that is not something anyone should skip.  If I let it go much longer I will need to get my prescriptions refilled, anyway.  So there is a reason to go soon, even if it is just for that.

I didn’t know how much negativity was creeping into my life.  I mean, I was so used to listening to the monster inside that I didn’t even realize that negative self-talk was happening.  I am trying to listen for the inner beauty talk.  It is very, very quiet.  I need to listen harder.  I know it is in there.  And it is crying to be let out of the cage the monster locked it in.  Writing that just broke my heart, a little.  Maybe the crack will be enough to let the inner beauty escape the cage, and find her voice.

#TrustYourGut