If you, like many people, have had a change in how your life your life because of the pandemic you may find yourself resonating with this title. Before you spiral downwards in a state of panic, do these six things.
1. Congratulate yourself on being human that has ever changing experiences and circumstances.
2. This probably feels like the hardest thing, but give yourself compassion.
If feelings about your body feel urgent or stressful then your actions might be, too. If choices are coming from a place of kindness rather than urgency (doing a workout that is meeting you where you’re at in this moment vs doing the hardest, sweatiest workout you can to fix) you’re creating sustainable change.
It’s hard to not do the extreme thing to ‘fix’ but just check in—when you’ve done that in the past has it worked?
3. Look at the facts to cultivate self compassion. Our bodies change when our energy expenditure and intake changes. How does this apply to you right now? Maybe you haven't been moving as much, you've been at home, your food choices have been different. Cool! That’s good intel. This has nothing to do with YOU as a person. Stay in touch with what’s real then decide your next best step.
4. Replace judgement with curiosity. There’s no room for both at once. This might look like ‘Urgh I am gross!' vs 'Hmmm, that's interesting, these jeans feel tight. Why is that? How is this making me feel? And how do I want to feel? What is my next best step?' Maybe your next best step will be maybe having a glass of water, having a nap, going for a walk, getting in a workout.
5. Don’t look at your body as a metric or a number. You don’t have to be a shape. You don’t have to be a weight. What movement and food makes you feel physically and mentally good? Do that.
6. Practice. Just start practicing the things that support how you want to feel. Instead of, 'I am working out every day this week’ shift to 'I’m practicing moving each day.’ If you don’t, fine. You're just practicing right? you try again tomorrow.
Don’t rob yourself of recognising the beauty of what your body does, how it shifts and changes. When we obsess over using exercise to change our body we’re totally remiss of the joy of how exercise can enhance our life in different ways.
This is your opportunity to dig into the expectations you’re putting on yourself as a human and what a ‘good body’ is. This is your opportunity to go back into the world with a little more self trust, a little less expectations and a little more kindness for you as a human.
Ditch the metrics.
Dive into your desires.
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