I Am Humbled...

Someone told me that my blog had "gotten into her head." And now, when she turns to food for comfort she thinks about things I have said. When I write here - I am trying to express things I've never said before - so that I understand the reasons I got to where I was, the reasons food was so important to me, and hopefully, the way to keep from ever going back there. I never dreamed that I might be influencing someone else on their journey.

And yet - it makes sense. Although there were plenty of people in my past who expressed concern over my weight, or my eating habits - no one said, "This is what I did with food - I don't want you to do the same thing." A lot of people gave mixed messages. My mom is a phenomenal cook! She loves to cook, and loves for people to eat her cooking. I am certainly NOT blaming her for my choices when it comes to food - but I did learn about portion size from her. And I learned some of my self-esteem issues from her. She is happiest when people are eating her cooking - and the more you eat, it seemed she felt the more you loved her. Since my surgery, she has really worked hard to back away from piling on the food - both on my plate, and on hers! I'm so proud of her - she has decided to do Weight Watchers - and has had wonderful success. I see her attitudes changing toward food - and she has been one of my biggest cheerleaders - thanks MOM! I love you!!!!

I do know that I have had to make some decisions about dealing with stress in my life. Since eating it away is no longer an option physically, I have to decide how I am going to face the stress. Sometimes, I make a decision to remove myself from a situation, because sometimes the stress is not going to go away or resolve itself. That decision is not always popular, but it is sometimes necessary. Sometimes, I talk it over with a good friend - and I have been blessed with many, many good friends. And they are full of good advice - or at the very least, full of support. I have found that doing yoga is extremely relaxing - and stretching those muscles, with soothing background music is a great way to destress.

I am very happy to report here - that when I am stressed now - my first thought is not always food. It is sometimes - but especially at work, I only have the food that with me that I need to eat. And I refuse to walk down to the cafeteria or sandwich shop in the building to get something different. And even those times when I do think first of food, I usually find something else to meet the need. Go for a walk - call a friend - do a craft - write a blog.