The way you respond to the bad things that happen to you with unhealthy behaviours is a defence mechanism.
Your overwhelmed mind is trying to save you from the sheer pressure of trying to live a normal life during a pandemic
If all that happened is that you have gained some weight and become more introspective, you should be proud. Weight can be managed and introspection makes you stronger and more emotionally capable.
Your only real responsibility is to your self-esteem. Fight the good fight to overcome mental blocks and physical loss of stamina to choose health and wellness for yourself. There is so much strength and freedom in doing what you need for your own well-being. The ability to recognize where the line between what is expected of you by others and what you actually want is the skill that will give your clarity in everything you do going forward.
Sit with yourself and take the time to really connect with what you need to become your best self. You may find that the path you need to follow is actually quite short. It is the things you do to help you achieve the milestones you identify that will decide whether you take a long time to walk that short path or not. Some people just need some counseling to have an outside perspective on why their thoughts are the way they are.
Others seek non-invasive fat loss treatments to ease their way into weight loss for health and wellness reasons. Some people have even resigned from their careers and pursued entirely different fields in a bid to be more like their true selves.
Finding the way you need to approach your transformation into your best self is entirely within your reach.
Like Yourself
This is easier said than done for many people who have fallen into unhealthy mental patterns. These people can be very self-critical, constantly put themselves down, and struggle to see any positive characteristics in themselves. Strangely, many of these people have close friends, are loving family members, and give generously of their time and efforts to their community.
If this sounds like you, you may be struggling to like yourself as a person. Counseling or a support group may be able to help you break your negative self-talk habit and begin seeing yourself internally for who you really are as a person. Being able to like yourself will make a significant difference in your ability to improve your mindset and lifestyle.
Inner Trust
Group therapy, sports clubs, and hobbies are great ways to begin building trust with yourself. Your ability to trust yourself and your decisions is integral to you making healthy choices. When you second guess yourself all the time, you may take cautious approaches or worse, make choices that are harmful to you simply because they are unsuitable for your well-being.
Working on building up your ability to see that you are smart and capable and can rely on yourself to give you a good life will be a truly transformative experience. Many people who are dissatisfied with their lives and undergo therapy to retrain themselves into self-trust and confidence, often find that they actually like their lives. They simply did not know how to let themselves enjoy it because they did not trust themselves to maintain a good life.
Intentional Living
Many people fall into the trap of living the life they are told they should want. The pandemic has caused a lot of people to realize that while their life is a good life, it is not the one that suits them. It is entirely possible with some research and ingenuity to find the career that suits you and your passions and still earn enough to live a healthy lifestyle.
Reaching this point will require you to make intentional choices designed to bring you closer to who you want to be rather than who you are supposed to be.
Affirmations in Daily Life
Affirmations are a proven and documented tool that can help people transform their negative mindset and achieve goals. Positive affirmations, whether in music, podcasts, or simply cutting and pasting uplifting words on your walls, can help you to begin seeing the beauty in life.
There are so many lessons in adversity but you will not recognize them if you do not allow yourself to come from a place of optimism. Surrounding yourself in positive daily affirmations will get you to that place of optimism and serve as a guide to lift you out of any sudden funk that may pounce on you in a dark moment.
We are strongly influenced by the people we surround ourselves with. Your friends may be wonderful people, but they might not be exactly the relationships you need. It is entirely possible to have more than one friend group.
Start making friends with people you share a common interest with and can learn from and indulge in enjoying a healthy activity. Whether it is a running group for people trying to get back into shape, a knitting circle for young mothers who enjoy wine, or a book club on a discord server, the important thing is that you find your tribe. This will take you out of your bubble of loneliness in a kinder manner by showing you that there are many people like you who want to like you and that you are not strange or weird for liking what you do.
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