While I’m gaining confidence in myself, I am also trying to go through a mental transformation of reminding myself where I’m at. This sounds egotistical, and it is. As I said, society tells us to judge those who are different. As I physically change, I have noticed some positive and negative mental changes happening. This is good and bad. It takes work to stay true to who you are when your life has changed.
Positive Mental Shifts
When you go through a wellness and weight loss journey, you will feel good physically and this can help you feel good mentally. As I talked about in my last post, your mental and physical health play a role with each other. When I started losing weight, I noticed that, for the most part, I felt better about myself.
I started seeing myself as more successful and gained confidence. I felt better about myself, not only because I was seeing the weight come off, but also because I was working on my mental health. During this time, I began to realize I could be successful at anything that I worked hard at and received proactive support.
Negative Mental Shifts
When I started seeing positive changes, I also started to notice some negatives. There are drawbacks and I sometimes catch myself questioning or looking at others differently. One of the challenges I have struggled with is the changes in my body makeup. While I’ve lost weight and my size is shrinking, I’ve also been left with a lot of loose skin. This can be uncomfortable and somewhat unsightly. I find myself feeling self-conscious about my appearance and embarrassed. There are times I tend to judge myself.
Another negative I’ve noticed is how I find myself looking at others. This sounds egotistical, and it is. When I see people, sometimes I ask myself what that person is doing and why don’t they do something about it. Also, this can lead me to judging them. I have to catch myself and call myself on it. This is a point where I remind myself that I have been there. When I was overweight and mentally in a bad place I used to think everything was fine. Moreso, I didn’t know what to do or how to get to where I wanted to be. It’s a matter of reminding myself.
Staying True to Who You Are
There are positives and negatives that come with weight loss. The mental challenges that come with this can be just as frustrating. There are still body image issues. What bothers me more is the subconscious decision to judge others. To overcome these, I have to remind myself regularly of where I’ve been and what it took for me. Just because you overcome one thing doesn’t mean something else doesn’t come up. A wellness journey is all about mentally and physically adjusting to overcome whatever stands in your way. You have to make mental shifts, which require work to stay true to who you are.