Ride Out The Wave

I don't wake in a good mood every morning.
Some days, it takes a lot of work to develop a positive attitude.
I'm successful at weight-loss and maintenance of that weight-loss,
and overall, I'm a fairly positive person,
but there are times when I feel sad and low.

Turning my mind toward the positives in my life,
doesn't cause me to escape negative feelings,
it just keeps them from hanging around as long.

I"ve found that sometimes the fear of a feeling,
with a frantic attempt to immediately escape from it,  
is actually worse than the underlying feeling that I'm afraid of.

Feelings happen...no matter what...and it's okay to feel every one.
I've learned that one feeling will soon be replaced by a different one.
Just experience the wave of feeling...good or bad...
let it surface in yourself, ride it out, and then let it go.

 I like this quote by a member of a forum I frequent:

"Weight loss is not your sole achievement in life.
You are not just your weight loss.

You have worth as a person,
because of your mind & your feelings
& your relationships & activities.

The weight loss is not like a lucky winning streak
that you have to strain to keep up
& you are a complete failure if you eat.

Also, it's okay to feel black despair & sorrow & loneliness.
What you don't want to do is to eat when you feel like this.
You can shove all the food you want into the black hole
& that will still not fill it up.

Sometimes you just have to ride out the wave, white-knuckled,
when there is no hope in the world.
You just have to sit it out.

I swear, after the wave closes over your head, you will surface again."

*****
start: 247
Now: 139
Height 5’3”