What Is The Level Of Your Self-Esteem?

The night before last I watched an episode of Oprah where she interviewed Marie Osmond. It was originally broadcast a week or two ago but I had recorded it and only just watched it.

The interview was the first one Marie had given since her son committed suicide eight months ago. It was quite emotional.

At one point, the conversation turned from the loss of her son, to the end of her marriage.

Oprah mentioned that rumours were that her ex husband was abusive and asked if it was true. While Marie didn't answer the question directly she did issue a warning to people. She said. "You marry at the level of your self-esteem....make sure you have good self-esteem". It really struck me as an incredibly profound statement. It made an impact on me.

I believe there is truth to what Marie said.

I also believe that it also applies to what we eat. We eat at the level of our self-esteem.

When self-esteem is high we have confidence, we have power and we feel like we can change everything in our lives that we want to.

When self-esteem is low we eat to console ourselves, we eat because we feel alone, we eat because bad food feels like our friend....and it makes us feel good...but only for a moment.

Sometimes though, we feel like we have good self-esteem but we are still starting to fall off the health wagon anyway. I feel like that now. I feel happy (at least I tell myself that) but I don't feel as motivated as I should.

On the surface it may seem like I have just contradicted myself. If I feel like I have good self-esteem then why do I not have enough control over my food?

My theory is that sometimes your body knows you are slipping...it knows that the self-esteem is sliding before you do. For example, I feel pretty good right now. I feel happy, but I don't feel "HAPPY". I felt "HAPPY" last month.

I no longer feel like the "after" guy in the picture below:

Fortunately I do not feel like the "before" guy either. I feel fat...but not that fat.

So it is time for me to restore the self-confidence of the "after" guy before the sliding continues.

I have the "after" picture on my vision board and I am going to stare at him for inspiration everyday until I feel as good and healthy as him.

Perhaps it is a tad vain to use myself as my inspiration. For better or for worse, I can live with my own vanity...as long as it works. I can get back there...and I will.

Be healthy!

Alan