Hey there. Don’t believe everything that you think. Especially when it’s in the face of things you’re wanting to accomplish.
Your mind will fight you, especially at the beginning of things or if you’re restarting after a long break. I know this because I’ve been through it countless times myself. One of the biggest things that helps me is journaling. I write out the thoughts swirling around in my head, even when I feel like it won’t help much. But here’s the interesting part. Once you see those thoughts written down or typed out, you look at them differently.
Sometimes I’ll read back what I wrote and think, is that really what I believe? Is that truly what I’m suggesting I should do for myself right now? It’s fascinating how our own words can sound so different on paper than when they’re just bouncing around in our heads.
The more I journal, the more I’m able to observe my thoughts without judgment. That’s huge because so much of what we do with eating and exercise comes down to choices. And if we can step back and look at those choices without so much emotional weight, we stand a better chance of making decisions that serve us in the long run.
We’re never going to remove all emotion from our choices because we’re human and we feel things deeply. But we can take the edge off those feelings and create some distance between our thoughts and our actions. When you can observe your thoughts and say, that’s not true, or I don’t want to go in that direction, you’re taking ownership of your life. You’re also starting to catch yourself in your own blind spots, which is one of the most powerful benefits of therapy.
Even though I’ve gotten better at catching my blind spots, my therapist still calls me out on things I’d rather ignore or things I don’t want to see. And that’s okay because we all need help seeing ourselves clearly sometimes.
In a world full of endless content and social media feeds that validate whatever we already believe, it’s easy to think we’re always right. But life, health, and fitness are rarely just about right or wrong. It’s about context.
Living an inside/out life means approaching everything in a calm, deliberate way, especially the conversations happening inside your own head. You might not do it perfectly, but even the awareness that you can step back and examine your thoughts is a huge win.
If you want to dive deeper into building an inside/out life and want guidance tailored to you, check out my coaching programs here. Let’s keep working on this together!