Turning negatives into positives
Hi Everyone,
One of the things that I'm trying to do for 2015 is to turn negatives into positives because when I get overwhelmed with negatives, I binge eat to cope with it.
I was raised by a father who was extremely rigid and inflexible. Like a 3 year old child, things had to go his way and when plans had to change or things didn't go his way, he would get agitated and anxious and negative. I have a tendency to do the same thing - I plan things in a very specific way and when things don't go as planned, especially if it's something unexpected, I get anxious and agitated. But since I've been dealing with my binge eating disorder and reading a book on Intuitive Eating, which is all about being flexible and going by your instincts, I am trying to be more flexible.
Today is a good example. I knew that we were going to be getting a cold spell for this week so I planned my shopping very carefully. I had planned on going shopping today because the cold spell was supposed to start tonight.
But it came a day early and so this morning we got fog, cold, and icy drizzle. I started walking to the store and 3 minutes out, I realized that the icy drizzle had made the ground very slippery. I am recovering from a sprained ankle so the last thing I need is to deal with icy roads.
So my well-laid plan to go shopping today fell through and it did make me agitated and angry at first. But I started to talk positively to myself. I can go later this week when the cold spell is over shopping - no harm done. Plus, I did get done today the laundry that I had planned and I also got a chance to do some writing today (I'm a fiction writer), since I woke up early to go to the store and didn't go. I probably wouldn't have gotten to the writing today if I had gone, so I actually achieved more than I set out to this morning.
It's tough because I am so used to negative talk and letting myself get into a position that I am so anxious and agitated that I binge eat to deal with it and mash down those feelings.
Djuna
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