Trust the Fall
We often have the greatest of intentions to _______. We spend time planning on how to ______, we talk about getting ______ done. We even start to ______, eventually to find ourselves fallen off the path to ______. We can have the best of intentions, and we may even have already succeeded at ______. What happens when we fall off of ______, do we beat ourselves up, totally give up, or trust that falling is part of the process to succeed at _____?
I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic in July of 2020. That was a hard blow to be dealt, but at the same time, I had set an intention for better eating/health just two weeks prior. The need to change my eating habits showed up in a medical manner, and I thought, well, I wasn’t specific now was I?
I had shared my diagnosis with my yoga instructor, who also happens to be a Doctor of Physical Therapy, and a women’s health coach, she directed me to a book that she found helpful, and that she thought would be helpful to me as well. The book, titled “Hangry”, was the best thing I could have read, the best resource I could have asked for and, it helped me go from a 6.3 to 5.6 on my A1C testing! I also lost 25 pounds! It helped my hormones, my attitude, my overall well-being!
And then the holidays happened. I was feeling amazing, better than I have ever felt, my pain was at the lowest level I have felt in over 12 years, and to be honest, I felt the best about my body I have felt in like 30 years. Sounds amazing, right, so why would I put those feelings and results in jeopardy? Because I felt that good, that is why. I thought I could “afford” it, I thought the good things were more minimal than maximum, I thought a little poor choice here and there wouldn’t add up, they wouldn’t become long term and they would go by the wayside after the holidays.
Weeeeelllll, I have been wrong before and I will most definitely be wrong again. I know that I must resume the good things, eradicate the bad, I know how to do that, and I just need to do it. You know what else I need to do, the biggest thing I did when I started this plan the last time? I showed myself grace, I loved myself more, I cared for myself more, I nurtured myself more, and that was why I did so well before, perhaps that is why I fell this time, to remind me of how far I had come, and that if I need a break, that is okay, but to discard what works is not in my best interest, and I need to remind myself of that, as well as making my health my priority!
So what is in your blank space that I mentioned before? Do you have multiple blank spaces, do you need to think about what that might be for you? I will be gathering, regrouping, recentering my life on what I know worked for me, what makes me successful.
~Erin
The Photographist Life 