Monday, May 11, 2015

May 11th, 2015 It's Like That

May 11th, 2015 It's Like That

It was a very stressful day at work. I dropped the ball on something that takes me literally an hour to complete every six to eight weeks. It was a critical programming responsibility and this wasn't the first time I've dropped this same ball. I could have easily been terminated today.

When the discrepancy was brought to my attention, I immediately dropped everything else and handled it, then I set up a reminder alarm that will not leave me alone, reminding me daily after its initial sounding, until I manually delete the event and set a new one. Had I done this to begin with, today's situation wouldn't have been a situation at all. 

When something like this occurs (thank goodness it isn't too often), I get into "high alert" mode, where I'm hyper aware of how I'm handling the circumstance. Today's thing didn't affect my food boundaries because I dealt with it head on. I owned it and fixed it immediately. It was fixed and a system was in place to prevent future relapse before lunch time. I could breathe a little easier and I did.

That was the difference, though. Handling it straight up instead of letting it dwell on my brain for too long. Because when I dwell on an issue without handling it directly or correctly, my brain quickly runs down possible options--and when we're talking about my brain, it likes to suggest more food.

More food doesn't ever fix anything, but it sure can take us away from the problems with a little pleasure trip of textures and flavors. When the trip is over, the issues remain--and they're usually worse. 

I thought about this difference earlier while I considered the elements of today. It was a very solid food day despite the stress. Facing the issue head on, finding some resolution and making positive progress, it all occupied my brain space and didn't allow time, space and energy for errant food thoughts.

If only every issue were as easily handled and solved. Of course we both know they're not like this every time. And sometimes handling the issue takes much longer. So we do our best. I do my best to remember that food's job isn't to fix these issues and if I'm turning to food, it's a sure bet I'm not handling the issues properly, at all.

My workout tonight felt great. I'm enthusiastic about my progress! I accidentally hit 1700 calories on the nose--and at the same time my calorie burn registered 505...My starting weight on September 15th, 2008 was 505lbs. I'm weird with numbers sometimes. I've actually made an effort to stop noticing every 505 that pops up in my life. I believe in the law of attraction and there for awhile I was seeing it all of the time...at the grocery store, on clocks--adding up calories...and crazier coincidences, like the security code on one of my cards---all 505. I don't believe it's ever meant anything other than I was carrying around a subconscious awareness of the number. You know when you hear a particular word you weren't too familiar with before--and suddenly you notice it being used in different places by different people, all the time? It's like that.

My Tweets Today:




























Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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11 comments:

  1. MozzaqMay 12, 2015 at 2:27 AM

    I am a new reader to your blog but might become a very big fan of yours in a short time. Your blog is in short very inspirational, tremendously mixing your life activities with lessons for others. I appreciate how you pointed out that turning to food in depressing times is not the solution but rather the problem. Thanks for your continuous advices to us :)

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    1. Sean AndersonMay 12, 2015 at 11:29 PM

      Mozzaq, Thank you. I'm glad you're here! Turning to food never truly fixes anything, except hunger. When we use it in an effort to deal with something, it might feel like it's helping in the moment, because we're distracted--but ultimately it only adds to our depressive and stressful issues.
      I hope you'll stick around!

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  2. NatalieMay 12, 2015 at 3:57 AM

    When I decided to move to a little country town, 15 years ago, suddenly it seemed like everyone was talking about the place. Two teenage boys on the train in the seats in front of me were talking about it! Yet it was somewhere that, as far as I knew, I'd never even heard of before the job offer came up. I probably had, but it just never registered before because it wasn't important to me.

    Sounds like you handled your situation really well, food-wise. As always!

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    1. Sean AndersonMay 12, 2015 at 11:32 PM

      Isn't it fascinating, Natalie? Until we know about it, our brains don't catch it...then we notice it all the time. "because it wasn't important to me." That's it.
      Thank you--I feel good about the way I handled the work situation and the food...It was a good test, really. And I learned something valuable.

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  3. UnknownMay 12, 2015 at 5:39 AM

    In impressed at your honesty about the situation at work. So often we don't take responsibility for our actions. I often will try to handle something like this with food rather then face the issue head on, and you're right it just makes it worse. I need to overcome this response more than any other in my life. I just haven't been able to get.

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    1. Sean AndersonMay 12, 2015 at 11:35 PM

      Awareness of the dynamics in play is an excellent start toward handling these type of things differently. It's been a learned thing after much trial and error! Robin, you're hot on its tail... You'll get it. It does make a huge positive difference.
      Thank you!!

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  4. UnknownMay 12, 2015 at 5:40 AM

    It

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  5. SilasMay 12, 2015 at 9:35 AM

    Love the basket full of fruit. Time to head down to the break room here at work. They have a bunch of free fruit.

    Mmmm...apples....

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    1. Sean AndersonMay 12, 2015 at 11:36 PM

      A good apple--sweet, juicy---It is the best, isn't it?

      Delete
  6. necaMay 12, 2015 at 11:07 AM

    That's great Sean! I definitely could have done a better job with my stress yesterday. :-(

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    1. Sean AndersonMay 12, 2015 at 11:42 PM

      It's a practice in perspective, it really is, Neca. The thought that started me exploring in this direction was, there's always going to be something stressful or emotional happening---some BIG, some small...but something...and if I give those things the power over my resolve and fundamental elements, I fear I'll never achieve the consistency I need to experience long term success. Easier said than done, I know--but very possible with good awareness and practice. Thank you!

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