Hi and happy Feel-Good Monday!
This is where we share our favorite tips, tricks, secrets, and ways to "think like a healthy person" so that you can find your own delicious path to healthy living.
"Feel-Good Mondays" are meant to help us get back into that place of feeling energized, nourished, and ready to take inspired action for the week ahead.
“But you’re so disciplined!”
A friend was complaining to me about her struggles to give up sugar. I was giving her some tips I had personally used, but it was clear she was frustrated. She felt that even though I was able to break free of the junk food habit, things wouldn’t be so easy for her. I mean, here I was, so “disciplined” and “balanced,” while she was stuck with the “bingeing gene”…
I had to laugh (in fact, I think I snorted).
Back when I weighed 50 pounds more and struggled with my daily food choices, “discipline” was the last word I would’ve used to describe myself. In fact, I felt like I had no will power, and usually vacillated between feeling trapped in dieting prison or running wild in binge-land. There was no balance for me back then.
Even the word “discipline” used to conjure up more feelings of food-and-dieting-overwhelm. I wanted freedom, not rigidity! Flexibility, not dogmatic dieting. The right to eat a box of cereal for dinner if that’s what I was craving that day.
I imagined that if I was truly disciplined, I wouldn’t get as much pleasure from my food. I’d be miserable and cranky and restricted.
The irony was that the more I fought against the idea of discipline and structure and feeling “boxed in,” the more uneasy, uncomfortable, and unproductive I felt. My weight suffered. And my self-esteem, mood, and confidence suffered as a result.
Over time, through practice (and LOTS of trial and error, and many steps forward followed by many steps backward), I realized that adding structure with flexibility was actually what I craved. I didn’t need to be “free and wild” with my diet, but I also didn’t need to live in constant militant dieting mode. There was a happy medium that, surprisingly, came with cultivating discipline.
Through my own health and wellness journey, I learned that the right discipline felt great: a combination of structure, healthy routine, and being “disciplined” about also scheduling time (and belly space) for indulgence.
Discipline got me results: I dropped the weight, and kept it off. My mood improved. I discovered my passion on this planet (helping others find the health and nutrition path that supports them to feel their best). And like with any training, the more I practices using my newfound “discipline muscle,” the stronger – and easier – it became.
I share this with you so that you know that I didn’t start out “disciplined”. Healthy, loving, enjoyable (yes, enjoyable!!) disciplined was something I had to learn to cultivate. But once I did, with the right guidance and support and mentoring, everything shifted for me.
If you crave discipline, structure, accountability, and the right tools to form a healthy diet and lifestyle, get the support you need to get there. You don’t have to do it alone. I certainly didn’t, and I wouldn’t expect you to either. Reach out to us and get the ball rolling. All it takes is the decision – and courage – to take a step forward.
With love,
P.S. What does the word “discipline” bring up for you? Love it or despise it? Let’s get the conversation going on our Facebook!
