I so often hear from my clients that they wish this struggle around food, overeating, and their bodies would just go away.  They hate it, are tired of the struggle around it and just want to stop the madness.

I used to be that person too.  Then I realized something….

I realized that I am who I am BECAUSE of that struggle with food and my weight for so many years.

I do what I do because of it.

This struggle is what stole my joy and forced me to search for a way to find it again. It brought me back to myself but with a much better appreciation, love, and COMPASSION for myself and others because of it.

A-HA!

If we never struggle, we never appreciate the joy.

You have to experience the ‘bad’ to really appreciate the ‘good’.  If there was no hate, how would we truly understand love?

If there was no struggle, how would we appreciate the freedom from it?

hhhhmmmmm – I love this.

And it gave me a much better understand and love for all of the challenges I go through.

This brought a whole different perspective to my life in general.  If we begin to embrace the challenges, we actually begin to re-frame our thinking around them.  Instead of resisting them, we embrace them which opens us up to a whole new way of looking at them and leads to an openness to finding the answers.

We are no longer closed and ‘stuck’ – we are curious.

Next week we will talk more about being curious and how to use it that to your advantage.

For now – take this week to begin to see the value in the challenges your are facing (or have faced in the past).

What did they bring you?

How did they change you?

Who would you be if you hadn’t ever had them?

I bet you will discover that those challenges have, in fact, helped create the amazing person you are today.  Given you strength and confidence to know you CAN get through the tough times.

As my mom always said, ‘Adversity builds character.’

I know at one point I responded, ‘I think I’ve built enough character and am definitely ready for some boredom!’

But when I look back at that particularly trying time in my life, I realize that without it I would not have had the experience of the strength I have inside, the KNOWLEDGE that I CAN overcome really difficult times.

That I am enough.

And THAT is priceless.

I would love to hear any revelations on how or insights you may have gained from challenges you have faced.  How were you different afterwards? Can you appreciate those challenges now or do you feel you could still find some golden nuggets of learning from them?

I would love to hear from you!