Get in touch with your why
If you’re reading this blog post, the chances are that you are ready to make peace with food and your body and are comfortable with the idea that actively pursuing weight-loss isn’t going to get you there.
This is a wonderful place to be and within the intuitive eating community, you’ll find lots of support. However, we all hit roadblocks (these can be both internal, like that eating disorder voice getting super loud, or external, like a well-meaning friend expressing concern about your “health”) and it can be useful to have access to your values and goals in these moments to re-ground yourself.
Therefore, when embarking on this journey, it’s very important that you are clear with yourself about your why. Your why is what compels you to stay the course of recovery, even when you hit those roadblocks or come up against nay-sayers. It is the why you are ready to let go of the idea that actively pursuing weight-loss is the only way to achieve grace with yourself and your body, why you are no longer willing to engage in diet-culture behaviors, and why you want to embrace your here and now body.
Everyone’s whys are different, but some of the most compelling ones I’ve heard are:
I want the bigger life.
I want to model a respectful relationship with food and my body for my children.
I am no longer letting others set the standards for what is right for my body.
I want a collaborative relationship with my body, not a dictatorship.
I deserve peace.
If you have an answer to WHY in your head right now, great! If not, I’ve found asking yourself what drew you to learning about intuitive eating in the first place can be a useful journaling prompt to help people access their whys.
Whatever your why is, I encourage you to write it down and keep it someplace central. Frame it and hang it in your kitchen. Make it your desktop background. Tape it to the front of your planner. Whatever you need to do to keep this essential reminder at the forefront of your brain.
Growth and change is never easy. We all have to overcome a lot of inertia to get ourselves moving in a new direction. Whenever you find your energy flagging, whenever you start to feel overwhelmed, you can return to your why to recenter your energy and keep the momentum going on this incredible journey.