I HATE stereotypes. I hate them in normal life, I hate them in the weight loss surgery world too. I hate it when we feel like we are failing if the scales aren’t moving, I hate it that we can be so demotivated if our goals take longer to attain than we thought they would. It is easy to look at others, ESPECIALLY on social media and think “wow, they have it all together” “they lost their weight so quickly and mine isn’t coming off”, “they look amazing and we have lost the same amount of weight and I don’t look like them”, “they eat more than I do what if I am doing it wrong?”, “they eat less than me, what if I am doing it wrong”. “I would never eat that, they are doing it wrong”, “I get all my protein from food, they are doing it wrong”, “I can’t get all my protein from food, am I doing it wrong”, “I am 12 months post op, clearly I am now a failure because I still have X amount more kilos to loose”. Let’s not buy into stereotypes! Your life, your journey, your story and the way that you live out the values that you have in your heart, is unique to you. Sure there are some things that will all have in common, but this journey of Bariatric Surgery is a unique one for each and every one of us. Being perfect is impossible and allowing our happiness to be determined by stereotypes is no way to live.

Years ago I was talking to my very wise Poppy and he said to me “Ahhhhhh little chick, the years will come and go just the same, best do something good with them.” And those words have always stuck in my heart. I am not sure if they lodged there so firmly because I loved him so dearly, but for whatever reason when he spoke them to me, they just took root in my brain and refused to be removed. I often think of them when I feel stuck in a situation or if I feel unmotivated. The important picture to keep in front of us is to do something good with the time that we have. Do something good for your body, do something good for your health.

At the moment I don’t have total control over all of the things that are going on in my body or in my life, we are all in that boat aren’t we. There are always going to be things that are beyond our control, but we can chose what and how we allow things to influence us. We can choose to be kind to ourselves, we can chose to be gracious to others and we can chose to do something good with our time. This week I am choosing to look beyond the scales as Damien Verner encourages us to do each Monday. I have my sights set on a full week of being kind to my body. “But Tash you always look after yourself?” yeah, no, no I don’t. Sometimes I get tired of how hard it can be for me and I just don’t try. I know that sounds silly but it can happen. Recently I have been struggling with what has been going on in my body and I have also found that I have needed some help with body issues. I try very hard to accept and love myself as I am but there are times when I can be triggered. It has happened a few times recently – the point is we are all works in progress and it is so important to remember that no one is perfect and it is okay to be working on ourselves.

Love Tash xx