True story 👉🏼 these denim shorts were loose on me last Summer. During this time at home I’ve been working really hard on being okay with sitting in my thoughts. I’ve been working on boundaries. I’ve been working on compassion with myself.

I went to put these shorts on yesterday and before I did so, I told myself “there’s a chance these may not fit, and if that’s the case it’s okay.” As you can see here, they didn’t come close to zipping.

This sort of thing used to rip me to shreds from the inside out. It would trigger so much shame, hatred, and guilt.

But yesterday, I took them off and found something cozier to wear, and that was that.

Today I was speaking to @stephdodier (a live recording coming soon!!) and I told her about this instance. I mentioned that I have gained a significant amount of weight during Covid, which I was *curious* about because I hadn’t been bingeing (assuming that that’s what would have caused this sort of rapid weight gain). She quickly reminded me that how much we weigh isn’t necessarily because of what we are eating. Overall health goes way beyond the food, and it certainly has nothing to do with the number on your jeans or scale - but it’s your mental and emotional well being. I have been beyond depressed, anxious, and had the highest levels of stress I’ve ever had during this time. In most of us, those emotions can trigger our body to go into survival mode and hold on to everything we put into it. Stress is a sneaky one - for me at least. It tends to manifest itself into other issues for me, and it usually takes something drastic like in this case, suddenly my clothes not fitting - to realize this isn’t because I’m doing something wrong - or because of how I’ve been eating - there is something way deeper going on here.

Just in case this is you too right now: I want you to know you’re not alone, it’s not because you ate too much, and it’s time to put on the leggings and start digging in to what’s REALLY going on in our hearts, minds, and souls.

@stephdodier and I talk more about this on the session we did today and I CANNOT wait for you to watch it. What she has to say is so helpful. Be well my loves! 🖤

6d