Putting Pen to Paper

I have a gazillion great ideas running through my head every single day; but until I put pen to paper it's just a to do list.  This is key for me, and coming up with a real plan is vital to my success in all my giving it a year projects that I am tackling.  And it's hard, but i know when we focus on something, we can really change it.

So this week is a week for no indulging in emotional eating...top 10 things I can do instead of eat...

1) Feel the feeling...
2) Cry (as appropriate)
3) get on the computer
4) write
5) exercise
6) call someone
7) talk it out
8) read

and I'm still working on 9 and 10...

Part 2

First things first...-1.8 lbs today!  18 total.  :)

I've been thinking more about this topic and realized today that most people who hoard are hoarding projects, potential and possibilities.  They hoard books, knowledge and memories.  I can't help but wonder if they (and we who hoard weight) do so because deep down we do not believe that we, in ourselves, are enough?  We don't trust ourselves to be, well, ok and alright in this world.  We must have every source of knowledge at our fingertips because we are afraid.  Afraid that we can't answer a question.  Being unprepared would mean we would be vunerable, and do deal with that anxeity, well....let's just say we don't.

But what if the next time we are presented with a situation that is scary or makes us feel vulnerable, we own it?  We embrace it and hell, if we don't know the answer we simply say...I don't know.

We are so worried about what others think, but we must be comfortable in our own skin.  With our choices and with who we are. (I am actually sweating over over using the h-e-double hockeys sticks word up there.  Sorry kids!)

And frankly, what's the worst that could happen?  Will it matter, 5 minutes, 5 months or 5 years from now?  Probably not.  It's growth and it's gonna hurt peeps...sorry.  But we are the only ones who can change ourselves.


By the way, want to take a look at how you stack up...are you considered a hoarder?  Check out this scale.

Owning My Emotions

This week has been an exercise in owning my emotions.  It's incredibly easy for me (and most of you I would suspect) to eat when I'm bored, sad, stressed, angry, upset, disappointed, lonely, happy, celebrating, fill in the bank, etc.

This week I tried something different.  I have been owning my feelings, sitting with them...feeling them. It is INCREDIBLY hard.  I don't want to hurt. I don't want to feel anxious, like I'm about to crawl my way out of my skin.  I don't want to be sad.  I have always been very emotional. When my kids hurt, I feel it.  I cry at movies, performances, concerts and commercials.  I stop breathing during intense movies .

I started this because of the show Hoarders on A&E.  Almost everyone featured on that show are not able or willing to deal with their emotions.  For example, on the last show, Todd hates to feel anxious and avoids any chance of feeling anxious.  By filling his time with gaming or his collections he delays having to deal with anxiety.

Same goes for a number of people on the show...those who are avoiding feeling fill the void by shopping and acquiring things...these "things" serve as a wall, both physically and emotionally.  One of the women asked a hoarder how he felt as he sorted and threw out thousands of pounds of trash.  His answer...vulnerable.

I also hoard but I hoard weight.  The extra pounds are my protection from perceived danger.  If lose them, I'm not prepared (which is one of the worst things to be when you dread anxiety).  I will be vulnerable.  And I'm afraid.

To be continued in part 2 tomorrow...

Crisis of Confidence

We all have them.  And I've seen them this week in many shapes in sizes...from my own personal freak out when I wasn't sure I was "getting it' at work, to my colleague's feelings of helplessness when her daughter was sick, to my daughter's nervousness at her first dance.

What gets you through?  For me it was remembering I have to ground myself.  I need to spend a little time here.  Ultimately, it's up to me to bring myself back.  I am responsible for me...no one else is.  So I need to know me better.  What makes me tick?  What do I like, what don't I like?  What gives me the strength everyday to move forward to my goals?  What are my goals?  What brings me pleasure and joy?  I can't stand by and wait for anyone else to lead and direct my life.  How incredibly victimy (a word?) and selfish.  The buck stops here.

This goes for food and weight watchers also.  I had a rough week during New Year's.  I lost my motivation.  I found myself "cheating" a lot and not writing things down.  And it just make me feel creepy, so I bucked up and took it back to the ground.  Grounding myself.  Getting back to why I do what I do...

Side note...my colleague and I were also talking about fleeting celebrity status and how so many on reality shows are thrust into the limelight for a season and then dropped.  Specifically, Erik Chopin, who is within 30 pounds of his 2006 weight.  Why?  Because, according to him, he lost his drive.


Peeps, we have got to keep our drive.  Sorry, Erik, but my gut (no pun intended) says you were doing this for  everyone else but yourself.  Time to get grounded. Quoting Shakespeare from Hamlet, "This above all: to thine own self be true." Now figure out who thine own self is.


PS.  Thanks mom, for the quote.  I think you first started saying it to me when I was in high school.


PPS.  Check out the Biggest Loser Store. They are definitely in it to provide tools to us, but it is up to us to make the most of the tools.