Skip to main content

Progress, Not Perfection

Throughout my weightloss and wellness journey, and especially after discovering Intermittent Fasting, my go-to phrase has become, "I am human."

 It's something that's said a LOT in my IF groups.

 We spend our lives seeing other's highlight reels and it's hard to remember that EVERYONE is going through their own struggles.

 "I am human," is a mantra that I've adopted to remind myself that no one is perfect, least of all me, and that's ok!

 We weren't meant to be perfect.

 I forget friend's birthdays or anniversaries...

 I have days where my diet is less than balanced...

 I have sleepless nights where my brain won't turn off and I'm consumed with the stress of adulthood...

 I have days where I don't check everything off my to-do list...

 I have days where I'm exhausted, sick, overwhelmed or anxious.

 For me, yesterday was definitely a human day.

 I'm not sure exactly what happened.

 I woke up early and felt great, but as I went through my typical routine, I started getting a terrible headache.

 Now, headaches are nothing new for me. I've suffered from them every day since I was in sixth grade. Headaches are not a big deal.

 Plus, I had things to do!! Emails, phone calls, laundry and dishes...

 I kept plugging away and the headache kept getting worse.

 Maybe it was from my hair being up for too long, since I like to wear it that way while I'm working..

 So, I took my hair down, but the pain grew.

 Then I thought maybe it was a hunger headache from fasting. They don't happen often, but occasionally they do.

 The last thing I wanted was to break my fast early after not fasting this past weekend, but the headache was getting worse and I couldn't just ignore it any longer.

 My body was trying to tell me something. It needed something I was not giving it.

 I broke my fast early, got myself some food. The headache remained.

 Okay, fine. I took pain relievers and decided to just sit and rest for a while.

 The headache was threatening to turn into a migraine and now my stomach was acting up.

 What in the world was happening??

 I ate a little something more, worse. I had some tea, worse. I took more pain relievers...you get the idea.

 I was trying to listen to my body, but everything I tried was making it worse and I was running out of ideas.

 That's when the lightbulb went off. The one thing I had been depriving my body of for almost a week...actual sleep!

 With stress and travel and spending time with family and friends, I had definitely been short-changing myself in the sleep department.

 So, I just went to bed.

 And guess what, today I woke up feeling so much better...shocker right?

 Past me, perfectionist me, would've ignored my body and kept going. I probably would've woken up today feeling worse...

 I'm taking yesterday as a reminder that I am not Superwoman. I am not infallible. I have needs. I will have more bad days in the future. I am only human.

 My journey isn't just about weight loss, it's about learning to take care of myself...and it's a constant work in progress.

Progress, not perfection. That's the goal...even if I need a good reminder from time to time.

 We are human,

 Carly









Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comment on Busy Women's Health

Popular posts from this blog

Social Media Lies

No, contrary to what you see on social media, my life isn't all fun times with the kiddo and date nights with the husband. I don't wear makeup and heels just to be around the house, although I am sure my husband wouldn't mind if I did.  I also don't plan every waking moment that my child is awake and not in school to be filled with outings to Chuck E. Cheese, ice skating or concerts.  Now, I know my child would be happy if I did, but that is just not realistic.                           I love sharing photos with friends and family and I want them to look nice.  I really am not sure why though.  I will totally and happily show up to your house in my most comfortable pair of sweatpants, ratty sweatshirt, no makeup and hair doing something, looking like Tom Hanks in the middle of Castaway, and I won't have a second thought about it.   And I am not alone in this dilemma of social media etiquette.  If that's what you want to call it.  I have scrolled thro
Post a Comment
Read more

Cough Tea

It’s that time of year.  The time that, to me, is worse than spring. The time that brings the fall cough!  You know the one. The one that never really goes away and you’ve had so long you’re not sure when it first appeared. It’s the same one that you don’t want to go to the doctor for because you’re positive it’s just something that has blown about with the change of seasons.  I like to call it the “allergy faker.”  Like Carly with her constant sinus fight, I have the constant cough fight. And although I always win, the shorter I have to deal with it the better.   I also have to think about the fact that I have a child and he and his friends are in and out constantly, and I’d really prefer they not share anything with me. Lord knows no parent wants to start that viscous circle of sick.  So, that’s where my favorite cough-away recipe comes in. It’s delicious, aids sleep and it’s for adults only!  Wellness Tea  and Whiskey, two new best friends.   Th
Post a Comment
Read more

Covid-19: A Message From A Front Line Health Care Worker

Hello friends, I hope this message finds you well.  Through out the recent weeks, and the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have been struggling on what to say.  I have been trying to keep a positive outlook, telling myself that we'll be okay. That everything will go back to normal eventually, but as we've seen, so much changes from day to day that it's hard to know what the future holds right now. It's scary. It can be overwhelming. We've never seen anything like this. Some of us are in major hotspots and some, thankfully, are in more sheltered pockets. The reality of the situation is that we are all affected. I am writing this from my home office, a place that I have spent much much more time in recently, especially in the wake of the governor of Colorado, Jared Polis' stay-at-home orders. Being that I am a member of the media, I have been deemed "essential." Like many of us, I have special documentation from Washington, D.C. that
21 comments
Read more