Hope Is Not A Plan
While listening to an NPR program
on changing our thoughts about death and dying, one of the experts interviewed encouraged
listeners to become proactive in their lives, wisely admonishing that “hope is
not a plan.” I couldn’t agree more. How often do I hear clients and Food and Feelings message
board members express their hopes without strategies to transform them into
reality.
And how do you think that turns
out? Without a plan, outcomes are generally poor, and disregulated eaters feel
like failures. For example, say, you’ve been eating relatively “normally” for a
couple of months and are about to visit your family for a week. In the past, when
you’ve gone back home, you’ve fallen into unhealthy eating behaviors—snacking
mindlessly, making mostly unhealthy food choices, and gobbling up everything on
your plate. Rather than develop a plan to avoid these behaviors, you simply
hope things will be different because you’ve been eating better.
Therefore, you don’t brainstorm solutions
to potentially difficult eating situations ahead of time: bring along a book
(like my RULES OF “NORMAL” EATING) to remind you of how you want to eat, write
out pointers to guide you around food, figure out how to take time outs to be
by yourself and reflect on how you’re feeling, talk to family members about how
they can be helpful with your eating problems, or come up with ways to get
support from other people who are also moving toward “norm...
Source: Normal Eating - Category: Eating Disorders Authors: eatnormalnow Source Type: blogs