A former client sent me a lovely letter the other day, updating me on how she was going (she’s going great by the way. Bloody phenomenal actually!). She mentioned at the end of her note that she loved hearing that I sometimes slip up on my journey to healthier living – that it made her feel better to hear I was human and prone to making the odd mistake or falling off the bandwagon occasionally.
Man, I’m so human that I don’t just fall off the wagon sometimes – the damn thing runs right over the top of me on the way past as well.
I work with amazingly healthy and happy women, move in very healthy circles for business, and still feel intimidated by some of these people. I see their social media feeds, the pics of their awesome food, hear of their amazing workouts and lifestyle, and it makes me want to crawl back into bed some days with a bucket of coffee and a packet of potato chips. Because seriously – they (appear to) have their shit together and I just do the best I can on a daily basis. And some days, the best I can do is an egg on toast.
Looking at those women still makes me feel like I have a long way to go before I am healthy. And truth be told, I could be doing better than I am. But again, I say, I do the best I can on a day-to-day basis, and some days are better than others.
I’ve come to realise that I am also unintentionally intimidating some people. That to some mums, I am one of those healthy women that overwhelm me or bring up feelings of inadequacy in me. Mums have begun apologising to me for what they are about to feed their children. Or looking away from me when they start talking about what’s for dinner. The last thing I would ever want to do is bring up feelings of shame and guilt in other women.
I don’t judge others for what they feed their family or themselves. By sharing the information I’ve learned, and by sharing my story, all I hope to do is help spread that information and hope that it helps facilitate positive change. Because change is needed, that I know. Anyone who reads the health statistics can work that out for themselves.
My hope is that by sharing my very not-styled, not-flash meals; by sharing my struggles of fitting in me time, peace, and movement; by writing about struggles with self-confidence, motherhood, love, life and career; that by showing my not perfect, not guru-like way of approaching health and happiness – that by doing all of that, another mum will see that she is not alone, that she can make changes, that she doesn’t have to be perfect or aspire to be, that it is achievable.
So yes, I slip up and am human. As are you – so don’t give up when it’s not quite right. Don’t apologise for where you’re at. And most importantly, don’t feel intimidated by others who appear to do it better – you never know what’s going on at their place. They could be in bed with a bucket of coffee and a bag of potato chips!
