A few days ago, I posted this caption on Instagram, it read:
Scrolling through Pinterest and saw this gem, “don’t judge people for the choices they make when you don’t know the options they had to choose from.” And I couldn’t agree anymore.💗
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I’ve shared this before, but for those who don’t know the short version of my story. My brother was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 5 years old. Our foods changed and the food scale was introduced to the table dictating how much my brother could eat. I grew up learning that sugar free foods and restriction were healthy and as time went on, this obsession got worse. Magazines and social media fueled the fire. When my dad walked into my room the day before senior year of high school and told us that he had an affair, I needed to cope. And my exercise addiction and perception of healthy did that for me.
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As time went on, I went inpatient. Got out before I was ready, and even though my mom called the insurance, they told her that unless I had kidney damage that they couldn’t cover anymore treatment. One semester of college and as soon as I got home, I met my mom’s (now) ex boyfriend whom she met on a dating site. Long story short, but I went inpatient again, got out and lived with this guy for a year and a half or so, eventually leading to a restraining order.😳
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Went back to college, graduated valedictorian, came back and went for outpatient help for my anorexia. To my dismay, due to hospital guidelines and health insurance, I was kicked out of getting help. I could have died. And yet I didn’t.🤷♀️
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I said screw it. If it was happening to me, I wasn’t going to allow it to happen to others. And that’s why I’m here and why I started @notastandard_ .
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Sometimes in life, you don’t have options. Sometimes you have to just keep trudging on despite the pain. Sometimes you have to fall down to get back up. And sometimes it’s more than once.
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So if there’s one thing I want you to take from this account, it’s that you can do anything you want. You can rise from anything. You may have made bad choices, but screw them. Get the life you want.
And I just wanted to share it again to introduce today’s post. Because let me tell you, my life was anything, but easy for ten years. It felt as though every single time that I “got up” I got pushed down. And after awhile it got really discouraging. It would have been easy to give up. But I didn’t, and here are a few tips on what helped me keep trudging on.
How To Keep Trudging On When You are Uncertain of What Lies Ahead
1.) Take a Step Back
One of the best pieces of advice I can give is to take a step back from everything. Go outside, take a walk, take a long shower… whenever you are overwhelmed, just take a step back. (If you don’t, you will get frustrated and stuck… I know from experience.)
2.) Re-analyze Your Situation
We may not always be able to change our situations, but sometimes we can. Think of things that you CAN do versus things that you CAN’T. Focus on taking small steps and/or adjustments to make your life better. (For me, that meant reverse dieting and adding in bits of strength training along with calories.)
3.) Start Now… Do It.
After you re-analyze what you can do, focus on starting today… not tomorrow, not in a week, not in a month. Start with those silly little steps today and every day moving forward. It all makes a difference, I promise.
So as cliche as they sound, these tips do work. They have helped change my life and have helped me to survive. And now…it’s your time.
Tell me in the comments… what are you working on today?