Mama Bear Ain’t Pretty

by: Rochelle Griffin

Interesting that today, of all days, I’ve decided to return to blogging. I haven’t blogged since January. I could give you all sorts of excuses…lack of time, lack of inspiration, etc…but why? Let’s just move ward, shall we?

So WHY is today an interesting day to start blogging? It’s because the topic that I was going to write YOU has become a topic that I am actually going to be writing MYSELF. The topic? Handling stress during your fitness journey.

If you’ve been with me a while, you know that I’ve made no bones about the fact that I am an emotional eater and have been all of my life. The past several months, during my blogging hiatus, I actually overcame a lot of my old, destructive patterns. As a result, I’ve lost about 25 lbs and am healthier than I’ve ever been. In fact, I wore a bikini a few weeks ago while on vacation the first time in over 10 years! Serious! I’m comfortable in my own skin finally.

Perhaps I was feeling a bit cocky and let my guard down because yesterday…BAM…I was blindsided and fell into old patterns. Say WHAT?!?!!? Here’s what happened: My 10-yr old son, who I homeschool, was at afterschool care, got into an altercation with 2 other children, and was injured. The worker didn’t handle the situation appropriately and the “mama bear” in me came ROARING out. Yea, not one of my finer moments in life.

My son was fine in the end, but I had all sorts of strong emotions running through me….even 3 hrs later. How did I handle it? We ordered pizza, my most-favorite food in the whole wide world, dinner. Serious mistake on my part. Yea, I stuffed myself as though I WAS the mama bear preparing hibernation.

In the past, this behavior would have went from a poor choice a meal to poor choices an entire day to poor choices the entire week. Heck…if I’m eating badly, why workout? See my old thought patterns? Destructive!

So, very first thing this am, I sent an SOS to MY fitness coach (yep I have one too) and explained everything to her. She picked me up by my bootstraps, dusted me off, and helped me move ward. One bad choice does NOT have to lead to more.

I, in turn, pay it forward, by helping pick others up by their bootstraps. Are you one of those people needing to send out a SOS? Don’t go through your fitness journey alone. You aren’t meant to exist alone in the wilderness. Let me help!