I've been dealing with food addiction for over 40 years. It used to be so tied in with my low self esteem and poor self image that it could only allow me to look some version of me being perfect to even be OK. When that was true, all I wanted to do was think I looked OK and then everything would be fine. And since I never could really look OK, the distraction of the addiction served my crazy purpose - to feel badly about myself.
Now I have quite good self esteem and self image. My self questioning and self judgment about how I look or what I think and do is very rare. That is not to say I think everything I do is perfect. It is to say that everything I do is just OK with me. I trust that I have a lot to offer and I trust that I will not always do what is popular or what works. So what? Before, all I needed to do was be perfect. Now all I need to do is be myself.
I've been maintaining around a 40-50 pound weight loss for several years. I got rid of all clothes that I can trick myself into thinking I haven't gain with; the slightly bigger ones that would then allow weight gain to surprise me. That was an old subconscious trick of mine. Now my clothes keep fitting and I'm bored with them. Isn't that lovely?
Now all my clothes fit; my scale is correct and now I have to self coach. I have to self talk. I have to provide the support for myself that I provide my clients; the support that ultimately they will have to offer themselves. I have to find the part of me that loves myself enough to get over it - whatever it might be in the moment.
I'm like the man in Beautiful Mind who just decided that he would live with the delusions that his mental illness gave him and not medicate himself with the less-than-satisfactory drugs he was prescribed. I accept that sometimes this food addiction will walk along with me. I just need to acknowledge it, not resist it, and act in my best interests - not its. Ultimately we all coach ourselves - even the life coaches.
You University Coaching/Life Coach Training and Life Coaching
You University Coaching/Life Coach Training and Life Coaching
