COVID-19 has effectively blown through our lives like an F5 tornado and completely uprooted our sense of safety and normalcy. This is a situation unlike any we’ve experienced before. Most people are feeling a combination of unprecedented fear + uncertainty. When will I be able to (safely) fly and see my Mom again? Will my sister/husband/friend lose their job/business? Will there be toilet paper at the grocery store today? Will school reopen in the Fall? Another consequence of COVID-19 (and contributor to anxiety) is that we’re being urged to use this time to learn a new language or train for a half marathon or improve ourselves in some way. The pressure is convincing. I fully admit to moments where I considered … [Read more...] about Ignoring the Pressure to Be Productive
Giving Ourselves Grace
Hard times can break us - or they can help us grow into deeper + more compassionate human beings. And (I think) the difference between the two has to do with giving ourselves grace. It’s been a difficult winter. My husband lost his father suddenly a few months ago and my own Dad (who was very ill) passed three weeks later. Navigating two terribly sad events in a row reaffirmed that I am a strong woman. Stronger and more resilient than I gave myself credit for. But I am no superwoman. About a week after losing my Dad, I sat down on the trail during a hike because I was overcome with emotion. Some people might consider that a moment of weakness, but I considered it a victory. A few years ago, I would have pushed … [Read more...] about Giving Ourselves Grace
You Probably Won’t “Conquer” Emotional Eating – and That’s Okay
Many of my clients tell me they want to eliminate emotional eating forever. As someone who has struggled with emotional eating, I completely understand the desire to make this behavior go away forever. To never feel compelled to turn to food for soothing or stress relief or out of boredom again. Some people get there, but most don’t – and that’s okay. You can make mountains of progress without conquering emotional eating altogether. In my opinion, it makes more sense to work towards less frequent and less intense episodes of emotional overeating. Attempting to “end” emotional overeating once and for all sets us up for disappointment. Any time we overeat, we feel as though we’ve failed. And feeling like a failure is not … [Read more...] about You Probably Won’t “Conquer” Emotional Eating – and That’s Okay
Eliminating Triggers
The path to changing our behavior has very little to do with resolve. We achieve control, not through willpower but by finding ways to take willpower entirely out of the equation. The central force for eliminating bad habits, according to social psychologist Wendy Wood, author of “Good Habits, Bad Habits,” is friction. In other words, making bad habits inconvenient. She cites the ways in which increased friction has produced a decline in smoking: laws that ban it in restaurants, bars, airplanes, and trains; taxes that have helped triple the price of cigarettes in the U.S. in the past twenty years; the purge of cigarettes from vending machines, and of tobacco ads from TV and the radio. We can apply the same concept to eating … [Read more...] about Eliminating Triggers