Simply Believe

I have spent the month of January writing about starting the new year with a clean slate. With renewed energy. A renewed sense of hope.

I have many reasons to feel hopeful. Travis’s new live-in aide (LIA) moves in later this week. He and Travis have been texting daily. Tracy and I spent this past weekend finishing remodeling the bedroom for the LIA. He stopped by this weekend to sign the contract and gave us a thumbs up on the bedroom remodel.

The LIA is also interested in signing on with a provider agency to provide Travis with additional support. Travis’s neighbor is currently in the process of training with a provider agency to offer Travis support with some cooking and cleaning.

All of this is great news. This will definitely help me to recover from burn-out. As exciting as this all is, I found myself telling a friend that I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I like to think of myself as the glass is half full type of person. Going to a place of believing that things falling into place seemed too good to be true isn’t positive thinking. I need to simply believe that this time will be different.

In times of trouble our minds tend to run to the past. Or to the future. I am working on living in the present moment.

Have you seen or heard all the commercials for Noom? They don’t consider themselves a diet app, but an evidence-based lifestyle behavior change program that focuses on personalized nutrition.

A friend of mine joined Noom a while back and sent me an invitation to do the program with her. I wasn’t interested. At the time I didn’t believe it would be helpful to me. I have spent a fair amount of time learning about food and I felt like I already knew all the answers. I do know what I should eat and what foods I should avoid.

The problem is that I know what a healthy diet consists of, I just don’t do it. I have been successful losing weight in the past. I know how to lose weight. The question is, why does the weight keep coming back?

Is there truly something to the psychology of it? I already know the answer to that question. I am an emotional eater. I have been, well, since forever I think. But apparently knowing that about yourself is not the answer, or I would be healthier. Right?

This year, in the interest of taking self-care more seriously, I decided to try Noom. What could it hurt? It is not expensive.

My therapist had me come up with a list of wants, needs and hopes. Getting healthy is on all three lists. I want to get healthy. I need to get healthy. I hope to get healthy. Doing more of the same is not going to get me there.

My first Noom lesson said I needed to simply believe. A couple of lessons later, Noom talked about overcoming thought distortions. According to Noom, the toughest obstacle I will face is of my own making. Thought distortions are tricks that my brain plays on me. The goal is to learn to recognize them.

Thought distortions are all or nothing thinking, thinking in extremes or exaggerated thinking. Like, I had a doughnut for breakfast, the day is ruined.

Me saying that I am waiting for the other shoe to drop is a thought distortion.

Joining a plan like Noom gives me some accountability. To myself, and now to all of you! Accountability works for me. If you are considering trying it, let me know and I will send you a link that will save you 20%.

Life is stressful. This isn’t going to change. I can change how I react to it. I can develop techniques and emotional awareness to become more resilient. I can become mindful of my habits and change my behavior. All as part of my “healing”. My word for the year.

When things get hard, and they will, I am going to repeat the mantra, “Simply Believe”.

How are you doing with your new year intentions? Have you been reflecting on your word for the year?

January is already gone. Let’s keep our focus going into February!

“Believing in yourself is the foundation to your dreams. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you simply believe.” - Melanie M. Koulouris

“Just believe in yourself and you will realize that even those small steps taken in the right direction can produce great results.” - Dr. Prem Jagyasi