I Feel Blue and It's Okay

Week of 02/14/2019 - Featured Blog Post I Feel Blue and It's Okay WARRIORSUE As someone who has been a binge eater for over 45 years, I am finding that I need to treat it like any other addiction. I will need to manage it on a daily basis rather than get over it. I can recover, but need to always remember, you know what I mean? I guess I thought that once I lost the weight I would also lose all of the binge behavior, but that has not been true for me. And quite surprisingly... I'm okay with that. As a binge eater, over the years I have taught myself a few things. One, that there are "good" feelings and "bad" feelings. Another, that "bad feelings" are to be stuffed down as soon as possible! "Bad feelings" are meant to be disposed of as you would a dead body in a back alley....drag it as fast as you can in the dark while no one watches and get rid of it. I would stuff down thousands of calories of junk food until I felt "better". What did better look like? Better equaled numb. What I know now? There are no bad emotions. If I get anxious or sad, and of course I do, those feelings need to be allowed to breathe. Those feelings are just like any others, meant to be fleeting, meant to pass and be replaced by the next emotion. So if no emotion is "bad", how do you make it more tolerable? I mentioned in a previous blog that I have a little coffee station set up near my desk in the basement where my computer is. I have a mug tree where my husband bought me these matte black mugs, each one with a different color inside. I love them! My favorite is the yellow. It makes me happy just to use it. But I am finding that when I am sad, I intentionally drink my coffee in the blue cup and I listen to Carly Simon. Sometimes I listen to Barbra Streisand. That's how I celebrate my sadness, my frustration. What works about this is that it is a clear acknowledgment: I am not okay! I feel sad. But it is not that frantic rush to get numb. It's just a tool I use to allow my feelings, show myself that I can listen to Carly Simon and drink from my blue mug and I can be okay without the anesthesia of cake and jellybeans. It works. There are no bad feelings. Sure, some feel bad. That is their intention; that is their purpose! But it's what we do with those feelings that can either make or break us. Let's raise our blue cups, put on our music of choice, reflect, allow, encourage all feelings, knowing that we are strong enough to work through them unmedicated. I promise...you really are. Click here to join in the fun of cheering on this member and share your thoughts! Motivational Member   LAUREL2372 Lovely Laurel a little li... What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail? You don't drown by falling in the... ...Go To LAUREL2372 Page Featured Member Blogs They are talking about "SEEDS"---Is Spring somewhere? -just wondering and unable to sleep- When You Zoom in, the Lines Aren't Cut and Dry Shop The Perimeter Is A State Of Mind More Community Links:     Message Boards | Secrets of Success | Success Stories | Video Blogs Join the movement by clicking the link below to earn your SparkPoints, or connecting with SparkPeople in one of these other ways: UNSUBSCRIBE © 2019 SparkPeople, Inc. All rights reserved. Terms | Privacy | Manage Emails