Do You Worry?

Do You Worry? No really – do you worry? And in some of your heads right now I’m sure you may have some answers: ‘Is she serious?’  ‘Seriously Andrea – what are you getting at?’  ‘How are we not supposed to worry?’  ‘What’s up her sleeve with this one?’  But really I want to know. Do you worry? About what you’re going to eat for your next meal. What your kids are learning in school, or from other people in their circle. What the number on the scale is. Why the number on the scale changes so much within a day sometimes. So yah, I wonder, do you worry about all of this?

In keeping this along the lines of my profession of health and wellness (as I’m not a therapist – most days anyways), I see time and time again so much worry about what to eat, what not to eat, what to buy at the grocery store, whether we can allow ourselves to have that creamy alfredo sauce at dinner, and most importantly what the number on the scale is going to appear as on any given day. I mean I used to weight myself every day — all day — any point I could.  And now I step on the scale once a year at my annual physical! But that was a learning curve and so I know what may be going on in your minds half the time. But who’s putting it there? Is it society? Is it your circle of friends? Is it the newest “cleanse” popping up on every other post along your social media newsfeed? Maybe it’s the commercial that gets played EVERY time you happen to be in the car. Or the news story that fills your radio at your lunch hour. How are we not supposed to worry? People are putting it out there in their own tactful (most times manipulative) ways to make us have those worrisome and wondering conversations in our heads!

So how do we get out of our heads and into the game. Do you think the athletes on your favourite sports teams have time to worry about what the opponent or defence on the other team is going to do, or whether they know the move they’re about to execute to get ahead of the game? I’m going to go with NO……any of the best athletes that is! You just go out and do. I work with many strategies and suggestions with some of my clients in this realm of nutrition and health. It is natural to worry about the number when we’ve been trained as a society to keep an eye on it, and obsess over it…..but that is wrong when it gets to a point where it stops you from living.  At what point is too much thought and obsessing over it though? I must say, only you can answer that question, and reach out when you’re ready to take the help. But I also must add that you shouldn’t be worried about that number for the majority of your day. There are certain conditions out there where we may have to be mindful of our weight – whether needing to gain or lose weight, BUT we must change that focus so-to-speak and shift it to what we can control. At the end of the day, we all need to eat to survive. But we must understand what so much of the world is doing to take our own power and control away from us to make us question and worry so much.

Nowadays, I personally don’t have any worry about the number on the scale or what my weight does year to year, BUT it’s been a road to get here.   I do know that there are things I love to do each day, which do support a healthy relationship with my overall health and that I can make happen like exercise (cause it makes me feel strong and energized), have breakfast each morning, take time to prep my lunch, and SLEEPING — amongst everything else that goes on in a day, of which some you have control over and a lot of them you don’t.

So I encourage you to sit down with yourself and ask yourself if you worry — yes, maybe about weight, or what to eat, or whether you’re allowed to have that birthday cake or cereal with a bit of added sugar, or butter on your toast.  But maybe it’s about other things too — will he like me, will she like me, will the weather be right, will I get the promotion, will the recovery time be short or long — whatever it may be, I want you to physically roll all of that worry up into a ball.  Go outside.  Stand in front of the sun and throw it up into the air.  Cause some things are just not worth our time to worry about when we have so many other possibilities of what to do with that time — things that fill our souls, our hearts, and our minds with goodness.  And if you need the support – reach out.  There is something or someone there to help you and be ready and willing to help you get to where you want to be.  Be careful if someone is trying to get you to where THEY want you to be…..this is your life and your journey! Embrace it and love every minute of it!

Remember, there are diagnosed clinical conditions in which you will need to get additional support and advice from, and monitor closely.  I can only encourage you to seek the advice and information and then act on it (sorry, I can’t do the work for you)…..but you have to believe that you can do it.  That you can accomplish such amazing things, and recognize what is worth “worrying” over and what you need to “let go of”!