One of the best ways to practice self-care is to know yourself. I learned this lesson from my childhood dancer’s uniform and a traditional diet from the 1980s. Self-care can be a traditional spa day with candles and a tub full of bubbles or it can be the little things that you do for yourself to make your life easier.
I attended dance classes (tap, jazz, and ballet) from age 5 to 15 at a local college. The standard dress code for classes included a black leotard and pink tights. How can a girl avoid thinking about her body while wearing a form fitting uniform? When I was a teenager, my body was changing and I began gaining weight. Our teachers suggested healthy diet to keep our body’s in optimal shape.
I liked bread a lot. I loved buttered toast as a snack and breadsticks from Little Caesar’s Pizza. I was a carb loving teenager and my hips began to show my affection for bread.
Occasionally, my mother would begin a healthy eating regime that included her favorite healthy foods like cottage cheese, grapefruit, beets, and lima beans. She encouraged me to participate with her. We ate small meals at specific times of the day. I ate what she ate; but, I despised the food. After several days, I would come off the eating plan essentially feeling like I routinely “failed” at staying true to the diet. Was it a lack of self discipline or that I really did not want to lose weight? Actually, this was simply flawed thinking.
If you don’t like lima beans or beets or cottage cheese, would you start a diet where you had to eat them everyday? Probably not. So, instead of feeling like a failure for not sticking to someone else’s diet, I finally realized that I wasn’t eating the healthy foods that I liked.
Over the years, I implemented structured eating plans with success. Why were these modified eating plans yielding better results? I applied my knowledge of my food likes and dislikes in the planning stages so that I ensured maximum success. So, what does failing at a diet with lima beans on the menu have to do with being late to school? The answer is desire.
Do you have a desire to care for yourself in a real and loving way? Can you say yes to the things you like? I offer one-on-one coaching for individuals interested in starting their own self-care journey.
Contact Michelle today to schedule a consultation.
