Introducing: Connecting to Ourselves
I am totally excited to introduce to you a new monthly post “Connecting to Ourselves” by Janet Zimmerman. We are CONSTANTLY surrounded with distractions and negative messages that take us away from what is really best for us (think about all of the icky dieting messages to get you geared up for bikini season, ugh!). Janet will be writing about a wide variety of topics to help you connect with the best ways to take care of YOU! Let me know what you think. 🙂
Connecting to Ourselves: A New Series Begins
Think of a child you know- maybe your daughter or son, maybe a niece or nephew, or maybe even you when you were little. How do you care for that child? Would you tell the little child to stuff her feelings inside or to use food or isolation to cope with the turbulence of life? Would you tell that child that he or she needed to look a certain way or wear a certain outfit to be loved or accepted?
I hope you are screaming “ABSOLUTELY NOT” right now. Many of us would admit that we want to protect and nurture the children in our lives. We want them to become strong and confident adults one day. We want them to feel loved and accepted just the way that they are.
What I want to know is why many of us stopped nurturing and getting to know ourselves as we grew older? When did we start thinking that trying to be someone else was more important than being ourselves?
Sadly, as we grow older, many of us lose track of paying attention to our individual needs. Through the years of being bombarded with advertisements telling us what clothes we should wear, what foods we should eat, and what our bodies are “supposed” to look like, we get the idea that somehow our bodies are our enemies and they cannot be trusted or listened to. This is far from the truth. In reality our bodies are a custom design, unique with no exact match. They are something to be celebrated and to be thankful for. They are something to be cherished and nourished.
The National Eating Disorder Association says it best: “Think of your body as the vehicle to your dreams. Honor it. Respect it. Fuel it.” This is exactly right. Our bodies are the vehicles to our dreams. They are something to nurture, honor, and respect. They need and deserve nourishment and fuel physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
With the start of this new series, each month I hope to walk through different aspects of connecting to ourselves: listening to our bodies and relearning our unique needs, taking time to nourish ourselves, and celebrating our differences.
Think about it. When is the last time that you took time out of your day to check in with your emotions, your physical needs, and your soul? I hope with the start of this monthly series we can learn to embrace and connect to ourselves. After all, you are your body’s expert and advocate. If your not connecting to yourself and listening to your needs, who will?
Post by Janet Zimmerman. Janet is a dietetic student, positive body image advocate, and intuitive eating promoter. You can find Janet on twitter @JanetZimmerman where she loves tweeting yummy recipes, positive quotes, and mindful tweets.