Slow Sunday today for me

26th June 2016

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

Well I made it through yesterday, my members always lift me and to have one of them bring me a packet of throat sweets was just lovely, it's those little kind gestures that mean the most (thank you Margaret, you really are a BeYOUtiful soul xx).  I spent the afternoon with my colleagues at our area meeting, bless them too for waiting on me and fetching me a cuppa, I felt like a grumpy bum, but trying not to be! 

I night nursed up and went to bed early, I'm glad to say the sore throat is just part of a banging head cold, real good one but still a head cold/virus thing rather than tonsillitis, so a couple of days of rest and paracetamol should do me the world of good.  Think I'll be doing my food shop online and chilling with my mom as much as possible, the bit of paperwork I have to do won't take long and everything else can wait.

Despite how I feel this morning, I've had a lovely week of meetings, we've talked about having that emergency backup when you're not 100% in the zone, almost a first aid food kit to help you survive the storm. 

Sometimes we get tied up in 'stuff' and forget our focus, I used the blue sky example to explain how our mind is when we're all in the zone and feeling great;

Imagine a bright blue sky stretching off into the distance, feels good doesn't it.  This is a perfect metaphor for the mind, a blank canvas on which thoughts, feelings and experiences appear.  Okay, so maybe they're are just a few clouds but they tend not to bother us or distract us too much especially if they're the cute, little fluffy variety.  This is how the mind appears when it's calm - bright, serene & happy.  

But life isn't always easy, sometimes they're are a lot more clouds in the sky.  Sometimes they might be the dark stormy variety, occasionally you might even begin to think that a hurricane is on the way.  It gets to the point where it's hard to think of anything else.

In fact sometimes we get so obsessed by the clouds that we forget about the blue sky altogether.  BUT IT's STILL THERE!

Every time you're in a plane and you're flying through the clouds, there it is right?  Without fail - Blue sky.

It's easy to forget that what we're looking for.... Is already here and that's why we need reminding.

This is why I now meditate, as it helps to remind me whatever chatter is going on in my mind, whatever problems I'm tackling in my life, that blue sky is still there, I just have to get back to it.  After all I've survived every bad day I've ever had in my life so far!

What causes those clouds, well we came up with lots of things; stress, anxiety, low mood, illness, financial problems, arguments, work, relationship issues, kids, pain, sleep deprivation, loss , can anyone think of any others?

Now I'm not going to make anyone meditate, I would recommend you give it a go though, just because we have the ability to think all the time, doesn't mean we should.  This is where meditation helps, it works on calming our mind, stopping us from over thinking, even 10 minutes a day works you know.  We are not what we think, thoughts come and go and we do have the ability to change those thoughts.

Anyway back to the clouds and our First Aid food kit, that emergency plan.   I really wish I had one in place for today, as I don't feel great and I'm not going to want to be cooking, I'm certainly not all ra ra ra and on track. 

 NO ONE IS ON TRACK AND IN THE ZONE 100% OF THE TIME. So we need a plan for such times don't we?  I'm actually going to use some of my rest time today to put one together, I know that will do me more good than some of the things I could do today!  I could've easily have thought sod it last night when I left that area meeting, I passed many a KFC, McDonalds, Chippy, Pizza place, Chinese and Indian Takeaway, you can imagine the conversations I had with myself on that 14 mile drive home, I even indicated to turn into Lidls, to get a jam doughnut then changed my mind, I wouldn't have tasted it anyway with how bunged up I was.  Instead I came home and guess what, I had started my first aid food kit, I have Weight Watchers ready meals in the freezer - woo hoo, sorted.  They'll get me through today too.  My freezer once it's been emptied is actually going to be filled back up with Weight Watcher meals, frozen veg and lean meat and fish.  They will be my emergency backup plan, I think I'll freeze a few slices of bread too, not an entire loaf. 

So how else can we deal with life and our weight loss journey when we aren't on it 100%, what are our coping mechanisms, what things can we put in place to help us at these times so we don't undo all the good work we've done?

Ready meals are top of my list, the Weight Watchers beef hotpot and WW Cumberland sausages were delicious, they most certainly have improved the recipes and ingredients of these products.

What else?

I need support, I need my friends, but you have to make sure to let them know how you feel and ask them to help you, getting support and asking for help when you need it is key.  My leader really helped to get me back on track Friday with just a few words, they hit the mark.  We were talking about our reasons and someone said health, I replied, "But I don't feel ill" and she said, "How do you know, the way we feel is normal to us, how do we know it's the best we can feel"  Then went on to say, "it's like when you first put glasses on. You didn't know you couldn't see before you put them on and you can suddenly see better than before!"  How true is that, I feel 'okay', I don't feel 'amazing', I want to feel amazing again!

If you're struggling because you're tired, it might be as simple as sleeping, if you can't make sure you're drinking plenty of water, and if you need it, get some caffeine down your neck!   

When you are in the zone, why not do a bit of batch cooking and freezing. 

Always make sure you have a bowl of fruit in the house, cupboards full of healthy foods, the No Count list is a great shopping list.

We also need to keep a positive attitude, remembering to look for the smile positive moments, I know this isn't always easy but there is always a smile moment if you look.  I was in such a rush last week, walked in the post office to a massive queue and groaned, then a little old lady walked passed me coughed and farted - proper chuckled and realised it' s just a queue, I can spare half hour if needed, it'll make me stop and smile at my thoughts.

We all need to be taking time out for ourselves, even a few minutes here and there, never forget we only get one life, don't spend it constantly 'doing' for others, working, rushing. 

I also asked members what was their go to meal, I'm going to be making a list of go to meals and sticking it in my kitchen to remind me when I'm rushing. 

I can do this and so can you, I'm not going to use today as an excuse to go off track because I'm poorly, there are oranges in the kitchen, I'm going to have me some vitamin C.

I've rambled this morning sorry!  Here's to a lovely calm Sunday. Take care of you. xx