Don't Wait Till You're Perfect

I thought to myself today- if I were perfect now, that is, at my goal weight and looked exactly as I envisioned, etc... How would I carry myself? What clothes would I wear? How would I interact with people?

How sad to put off being more confident because I'm not 'perfect' yet. How 'bout, we are all perfect, whole, and complete NOW, not a thing wrong. Aren't we all tired of giving our power away to subliminal media messaging that makes me feel inferior because we don't fit the 'ideal'? When you find someone that truly fits the ideal, let me know!

We need to make sure that our motivation for weight loss continues to be about self improvement, not about fixing ourselves on some fundamental level where 'fixing' is not needed.

As a helpful exercise that will provide insight into negative self talk, ask yourself the following questions:

1. What is my desired level of fitness/appearance before I am happy with myself? Be specific. List every "flaw" that you consider and how it will be changed.

2. What are the other traits about yourself that make up who you are besides your appearance?

3. Think of the reasons behind why you are so hard on yourself. What kind of messages did you get in your upbringing to condone this thinking? Who/what were the messages from?

4. If you were at your desired goal now, how would you feel? What activities would you pursue that you are holding off on? How would you carry yourself?

Dote on the last question and let it set in that you are putting your life on hold until you are good enough for yourself. As long as a goal of perfection is in the works, the end result will be continual unhappiness. I am here to tell you, you are perfect now.