Tuesday, January 9, 2018

January 9th, 2018 Streams

January 9th, 2018 Streams

Today: I maintained the integrity of my maintenance calorie budget, I remained refined sugar-free, I exceeded my daily water goal, and I stayed connected with good support.

My late visit with mom found her looking absolutely wonderful. She was bright-eyed, smiling, and had total clarity. I took a picture to share with her brother and sisters, but she wouldn't let me share it here, said her hair wasn't fixed. I told her I'd honor her wish about the photo and reminded her she is always beautiful, hair fixed or not! The hair thing--okay, I get it! After all, I was wearing a cap because my hair was a mess! I was pleasantly surprised to find her doing very well. Clearly, the course of antibiotics and steroids are helping her heal. The blood sugar issue is still an issue because of the steroid but they're on top of it with insulin injections to help keep it under control.

Doing a republish tonight-- Parallel Streams-- from the archives:

When life fills with circumstances beyond our control, we lose a sense of certainty. If you add normal job stress, everyday responsibilities, and a few random uncertainties--it's a recipe for instability. The goal each day: Maintain the integrity of the plan that keeps me well come what may. Come what may means exactly that. I spent nearly 20 years using every single circumstance I could possibly use in order to justify my dependency on excess food. I was a master of self-sabotage. It was a pursuit of comfort; certainty in an uncertain world, guided by the illusion that a temporary dive into the food might somehow make it all better. It never did. Life was always waiting around the corner from the drive-through, every time. 

 I've studied my experience closely over the last eight-plus years and although I haven't nor will I ever perfect anything, I do believe I'm somehow able (by the grace of God) to compartmentalize in a way that supports my consistent stability. I call it The Parallel Streams.

 The "Lifestream" is everything happening in our day to day lives. The Life Stream includes the ups and downs, the challenges, the victories, the disappointments, The hectic schedules, the family dynamics, the workplace dynamics, the bills, the stress, the joys, the blessings, the expected and the unexpected, the good, the bad...It's life.

 The "Fundamental Elements Stream" contain the daily actions of my personal plan. I say "my" because our plans might be very different. Mine is customized to fit my personality, likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, and sensitivities.

 My fundamental elements stream includes my personal/spiritual morning "me time," the most peaceful five minutes of my entire day. My fundamental elements stream also includes maintaining the integrity of my calorie budget, remaining abstinent from refined sugar, logging everything in MyFitnessPal, photographing and tweeting, with description and calorie counts of everything I consume, every day, getting regular workouts and staying connected with one on one and group support interactions and of course, writing and publishing this blog, nightly--right before bed.

 I've also referred to my fundamental elements as my "rails of support." I've set my accountability and support measures on high. When someone makes a comment in the direction of, "you're so strong" or "you must have amazing willpower," I typically thank them and smile, but I know, truly, I'm not that strong and I don't have giant amounts of willpower. What I have are solid rails of accountability and support--and I'm holding onto those rails, each day. They guide me, step by step.

 The fundamental elements stream runs parallel, just below the lifestream. The lifestream is running in the foreground and the fundamental elements stream is running in the background--like a computer's anti-virus program.

 I've written countless paragraphs within the archives of this blog all about the "lifestream" and the "fundamental elements stream" and how they must run parallel to one another without crossing.

 If we allow life and all of the energy it takes to maneuver, to negatively affect our ability to maintain consistency in the daily elements of our extraordinary care, then it always will. The frustration of inconsistency will be a common theme if the lifestream is allowed to dip down into the fundamental elements stream on a regular basis.

 And if we get too carried away, making the fundamental elements all-consuming, then we run the risk of it crossing up into our lifestream. And that's when it isn't any fun and we dread what we're doing every day.

 I've had several challenges of late where I really had to remember the power of this "parallel streams" philosophy. I've discovered, when life demands more attention, we don't have to let go of the elements giving us our success, but we can scale back the amount of energy it uses to operate.

 We don't sacrifice the integrity of the elements, we just do what we can do. For me--on super busy days, I have three non-negotiable requirements: 1. Stay within my calorie budget  2. Hold my abstinence from sugar sacred 3. Send the accountability tweets and write this blog--even if it's just the tweets of the day.

Today's Accountability Tweets:


Thank you for reading and your continued support,
Strength,
Sean
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1 comment:

  1. JeanneTopsJanuary 10, 2018 at 3:39 PM

    Thank you for re-posting the Parallel Streams. I haven't been following your blog for a while so I missed it the first time around. It's a terrific philosophy and I'm going to try to incorporate it into my journey on my Losing The Regain path.

    ReplyDelete

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