How do you measure up?

On By sassyshelbert

Hey There!

Have you ever thought about how you perceive yourself to measure up in comparison to those around you?

I’m here to tell you that the only person that you have to measure up to is YOU.

In today’s post, I’m going to tell you about the importance of “measuring yourself”.

For the people in the back “YOU DON’T NEED A MEASURING TAPE, IT’S NOT THAT KIND OF MEASURING”.

The “measuring” I’m referring to is the measuring of your mental health.

What I mean by this is, comparing what your life looks like when you feel mentally well and what it looks like when you do not feel mentally well.

Being aware of the difference is key in your rate of rebound. Rate of rebound being how quickly you are able to go from not feeling well to feeling better. This tool is also important in helping you distinguish when you may have fell of the wagon in the first place.

Personally, I like to start with the tasks or habits that I engage in when I’m NOT feeling mentally well.

I,

  • Binge eat.
  • I binge watch T.V.
  • I feel a sense of urgency and rush through everything just so I can be done.
  • I distance myself from friends and don’t make much (if any) effort to reach out to them.

I want to clarify that when I list these items, I’m saying that they make me mentally unhealthy when I start habitually engaging in them, like every day. It is okay to do any one of these things from time to time as long as their isolated incidents and not a commonality.

Remember? We are Empaths after all, we need protein (food) to feel energized and we need to take space from others to recharge.

The healthy version of me engages in the world through the following ways:

  1. Gives myself a break when I eat something like a donut instead of shaming myself. Where has shame ever got anybody? After going through this cycle over and over again (and inevitably will again) I can honestly say that shaming myself has fed fear into my brain over my eating. When I have used a shame narrative, I have found myself in scarcity mode and telling myself that I will gain all my weight back from having that donut.

…Have you ever heard the story about telling plants nice things helps them grow? I use this same approach when it comes to my insecurities around food and weight. At the end of the day, our self worth isn’t tied to our weight or our looks but easier said then done right? Tell yourself nice things, when has that ever hurt you?

2. The healthy version of me spends time in nature on a regular basis. Going for long walks helps me not only feel physically fit but nature provides a quietness that’s hard to recreate anywhere else. It gives me personal reflection time where I can sort out my thoughts from the day or the week. It even once and a while gives me light bulb moments.

3. The healthy version of me spends very little time on my phone scrolling social media. We’ve all heard of the “highlight” reel that is social media but that doesn’t stop others from posting their “highlights” or us from getting sucked into them. Quick Tip: Every day that I set the intention to, I don’t check social media during my lunch break. I don’t check social media until I pull in my drive way at home. I make a deal with myself that once I get out of the car, I’m done my social media time. I find this act serves as a good buffer in transitioning from work to free time where I can check social media but I give myself a deadline. I don’t know about you, but who really wants to sit in their car for a long time? Not me. 

4. The HEALTHIEST version of me sets the intention every morning to “be and stay present”. I am so used to rushing through everything that I’ve had to train myself (still doing btw and probably will for the rest of my life) to focus on one task at a time and to refrain from planning out my next moves while I’m doing that one task. It’s funny, somehow I still get everything accomplished and it actually feels like there is more time when I am present.

5. The even MORE healthy version of me sets NO expectations for the present or next thing. #4 and #5 are connected immensely because part of staying present is our ability to set no expectations for the moment or the following moment. Setting expectations leads to upset and dis ease. When I am able to do things without a plan, for the most part, I do not get as shaken when something changes the direction of the event because I had no expectations for how it was going to go in the first place.

There you have it!

Tell me, what does the healthiest version of you look like? What activities do you engage in when you are mentally well?

 

Shelby

 

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