Once and Forever Wellness

The song, I Feel Like a Wreck, is flying! Why? It’s not just the singing, beat, and good vocals. It’s the message. This is the universal human condition. We are imperfect and things don’t always go the way we think or wish they should.

I Feel Like a Wreck – Amy Guess

I’m at the bottom once again. These 4 walls are closing in. Why does it always feel like I’m the only one? 

I just need to tell someone that I feel like a wreck sometimes, but I don’t ever show it. If you didn’t know me well, then you would never notice.

But I feel like a car crash messed up,bent and broken, burning up in flames. I feel like a wreck.

This should be easy, oh I know. Then why am I so out of control? Why does it always feel like I’m the only one? I just can’t do this alone. No I’m not perfect. I can’t fake it anymore.

What’s the point in trying to hide how I really feel? I don’t care what you think about me, I won’t pretend anymore.

Amy nails how we all feel at one time or another:

• Like we’ve messed up or even that we are a mess.
• No one else is in the shape we’re in. They’re all doing great. So what’s wrong with me?
• We shouldn’t feel this way, so we better hide it.
• We really want to share it with someone but then they’ll know who we really are. 

Most folks, especially women, are raised to hide their feelings of inadequacy, disappointment, overwhelm, and general feelings of “feeling like a wreck.” As Amy says, “If you didn’t know me well you’d never notice . . .” To avoid those uncomfortable emotions, we try to numb our selves with over eating, alcohol and other drug use, mindless TV and other screen watching, frenetic activity, etc. When we numb our emotions we numb them all. It turns out that we can’t selectively numb the difficult emotions.

When we become willing to be seen for who we really we are, we have the opportunity to connect more deeply with ourselves and others. 

It is okay to sit in the muck of life for a while. When we cease running from it or numbing from it, the muck starts to become less gooey and we find we can get up, and step out of it. We find that being vulnerable and being willing to sit in the muck helps us to see new possibilities and opportunities because we are no longer numb.

When we are no longer numb, we can feel sorrow AND joy, discomfort AND ease, fear AND peace.

Put on “I Feel Like a Wreck” and sing along at the top of your lungs. Dance it, jump it, twirl it. And I am wondering if some joy, gratitude, and hope will start filtering into the muck. You might see a way to step out of it and into your vibrant and vital self. 

Kyle lost over 60 pounds by trashing processed foods. And he lost his diagnoses of pre-diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and gastric reflux!

You can too. You can lose weight and gain your health by trashing processed foods.

The truth is that eating processed foods is making us fat, diabetic, hypertensive, lethargic, and sick in many other ways.

It can be hard to move away from processed foods. They are actually manufactured to cause use to crave them and to not be able to control the amount we eat. Processed foods are addictive.

If you deeply desire a health filled and flourishing life, you can make the changes away from processed foods and toward whole foods.

Here’s Kyle’s story and how he went from feeling sick and depressed almost every day to a health-filled and thriving life.

Kyle had had enough. He is in his mid 40’s and he felt like an old man. He woke up each day feeling sluggish. He had painful gastric reflux. He weighted more than he had ever weighed. He could actually feel his high blood pressure when he would get upset or frustrated. His doctor was ready to put him on medication for his high blood sugar. He was already on medicine for his high blood pressure.

Kyle wanted more out of life. He wanted vitality, positivity, and he wanted his health back. 

Kyle was pretty sure he could at least feel somewhat better. But he didn’t know what to do. Over the course of about two months, with me offering him guidance as his wellness coach, Kyle decided to take these preliminary steps toward losing weight and losing dis-ease.

1.  Set limits with his time at work so that he had time to cook, exercise and educate himself about nutrition. 
2. Learn how and where to shop and how to read food labels. 
3. Explore cooking meals in new ways. 
4. Practice going out to eat and ordering exactly what he wanted. 
5. Discover what exercise he was willing to do and at least somewhat enjoyed, and what time of day worked best for him. 
6. Choose a healthy food plan to use as a guide.

To the outsider it might have seemed that Kyle wasn’t doing anything those first few weeks. But he was laying a strong foundation for success at becoming his health-filled self.

Within several weeks Kyle had set up this plan: 

• Joined a small “non-threating” gym. At first he committed to going weekly, then twice weekly, and then almost daily. 
• Sought advice from a personal trainer who specializes in functional training and nutrition for life (as opposed for just losing weight).  He chose to use the Paleo Diet as his food plan and modified it slightly. This food plan met his personal preferences and was something he felt like he could learn to cook and prepare for himself.  He also knew he could go out to eat with his friends and stay within these guidelines.
• Drink only water and non-sugared tea.   
• Found ways he could be more efficient at work and tasks he could delete or shorten so that he had time for the gym, food preparation, and grocery shopping. He gained the full support of his work team who encouraged him to eat healthfully at work and to get to the gym. 
• Reached out to his close friends and got their support of his new behaviors and desire to be well. 

Kyle is now unstoppable.

He has reached his initial goal weight and is still going. He is working regularly with his trainer now to broaden his fitness to include functional strength training and a variety of cardio activities. He is off of his blood pressure medicine. His blood sugar is normal. He has no gastric reflux . His mood is much brighter. He sees more possibilities than ever for his future. He is convinced that he can live this way for the rest of his life.

It can be difficult. It can take time to plan and prepare your self for big changes. But like Kyle, I know you can do it. You can change your habits. You can invest time and energy in yourself. You can lose weight by trashing processed foods, setting boundaries, integrating frequent exercise into your life, and surrounding yourself with the support of others. 

You can have the health-filled and flourishing life you desire.  Yes, you really can.