COUNTING DOWN THE COMMITMENTS

Nothing More than Feelings

They don’t actually weigh anything

Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash

5. Be mindful of stressful events that cause uncomfortable feelings. Feel the feelings, then and seek comfort not in the fridge, but in what brings joy: walks, music, friends, reading a good book, writing, anything I love and that loves me back.

Stressful events. When I wrote a list of health commitments in the summer of 2019, the most stressful event I could imagine was a looming project milestone at work, a falling-out with a friend, earthquake damage to the house, or illness in the family.

A global catastrophic event — certainly not one that would so profoundly and permanently alter the world as we know it — was not on my radar.

Our quarantine cocoons have been more hell than sanctuary, but at least we’ve had time and space to reflect and self-soothe, each in our own way. Zero judgment from me on this — this is our chance of a lifetime to embrace, shake hands with, er, get to know our demons and coping mechanisms as intimately as we ever will.

The point of the commitment was that eating my feelings was what I always did but it was eating me alive. I needed to find a different way — or ways — to cope.