Right now, I could be eating potato chips, and getting ready to stuff chocolate chip cookies into my mouth. I have seen 125 pounds and I have seen 198 pounds. My problem TODAY is not allowing my self-worth weigh (ironically) on my weight. My first husband once said to me “I would encourage you to use meth (to lose weight) if it wasn’t so addicting and could kill you. Mind you this is before I really knew what meth was. Awesome huh? I married that guy. The same guy who would fix me an incredible dinner and then encourage me to go throw it up or take a laxative. F-A-T is the one word I don’t tolerate from anyone else in my life but it’s what  I tell myself everyday. Everyday I compare myself to someone else. If only I could have smaller boobs, hips, thighs etc. I’m trying to remember that right now life is what it is. I am who I am, and I should be proud of myself, and focus on the positive. I have an incredible business that I have worked very hard at. I have a husband who loves me and would do anything for me. I have two beautiful, healthy children who do well in school and have a drive to do well in life. THESE are the things I need to be focusing on, NOT what size my pants are. Do I want to be healthy? Of course I do, I’m just at a pit stop in my life where I’m supposed to learn something. I think this pit stop could be titled “Self-Love.” I have never been great at self-love or self-care because I never really knew it existed. About nine years ago I was diagnosed with bi-polar II, mild depression, and borderline personality disorder (BPD). Self love was never in my vocabulary. I loved myself a lot over the years through a unhealthy relationship with food. I typically eat out of boredom. I typically graze all day so I’m never really “full.” I think my obsession to be able wear clothes off the rack in small sizes has me a bit on the OCD side at the moment. I/m being vulnerable here so please bear with me. I was forced to go shopping last week for some capri’s and some shorts as I had a trip coming up and yoga pants were not going to make the cut. With all the bravery I could muster up I went to the clearance racks and looked for some clothes. I was very fortunate that I found a couple of pairs of capris and a couple of cute shirts. I looked in the mirror and didn’t completely HATE the person looking back at me. My self-worth must stop feeding solely of my weight. The way I view myself has ruined trips, events, etc. I tell myself “I bet she’ll just look at me like ‘how can she be so big?” But in reality I know that person is struggling with their own issues. Quite honestly, it would surprise me if anyone thought anything about me at all like the way I do. I’m no one special (in the sense that I should feel like people are talking about me). I’m tired of being hung up on myself. Am I pretty enough, thin enough, funny enough, do people like me?

I recently decided to wean off my anti-depressant. SCARY. Last week was a great week but this week is a little iffy. I’m noticing patterns in myself that occur in people with bi-polar and BPD. I will sleep for 4 hours and then BING, I’m wide awake. The next week I will sleep my life away from being so unstable the week prior. This is an exhausting pattern.

I think what I am supposed to learn in my journey is self-love. To love myself no matter how many clients I have in a week, what my pant size says, just to love myself for me. I will tell you a hard cold fact. Self-love is hard no matter who you are. For me, adding in all the mental components are a real humdinger.  So here I am, today, fighting the urge to go grab the left-over chocolate chip cookies we took camping and practice self-love. Fuck it~ I’m getting a cookie.

Love,

~B