Hate-Loss Challenge Update Week 2

The first step toward change is acceptance.  Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change.  That’s all you have to do.  Change is not something you do, it’s something you allow. ~Will Garcia; quote taken from The Everything Self-Esteem Book

I found this quote on Ellen's blog post today and I honestly read it like five times because it was so interesting to me and is something that I never really thought of.

When I first told my Mom that I had lost 19 pounds back in October and that I was committing myself to losing the weight for good this time she said, "I always knew that you had to decide that you wanted to change before you would be ready and willing to let yourself change."  This was very powerful to me. 

I have struggled with my weight for pretty much my entire life.  It has been something that I have struggled with personally, but also something that was often a topic of conversation with my mother and I.  She always thouhght that I should be thinner.  She would always come from a good place when she would tell me that I had gained weight but, I never saw it that way at the time.  My relationship with my mom is better when I am losing weight rather than gaining or mainting my heavy weight.  Although I don't agree with the way she handled every interaction or intervention about my weight, I know that she wanted the best for me and was looking out for my well-being.  I know now that when she said the comment to me in October about being open to change that she was right.  She said that there were many times recently that she wanted to talk to me about my weight creeping back up, but she knew that I had to make the decision on my own.

This quote above from Will Garcia resonated with me because it reminded me of my conversation with my mom and it also reminded me that it isn't enough to want to change soemthing like your weight.  You also have to allow yourself to change.  You have to be willing to say that you are allowing all of the things that come with losing weight into your life.  You have to allow mistakes.  You have to allow new eating habits.  Allowing change into my life is just one of the many things that I have learned on this journey. You must first accept yourself and then welcome change into your life with open arms.