Choosing Health

My doctor sent me for an x-ray to make sure the lump on my shoulder isn't a tumor -- no news yet. My therapist is quite proud of me and I'm not seeing her again for almost two months. I told her that the one thing I'm still really struggling with is anxiety triggered by people's "you've lost weight!" remarks, or putting on a pair of pants and suddenly noticing that they're kind of baggy. Every time something like that happens, I promptly spend two or three days overeating at meals and eating when I'm not hungry. I think it's a kind of fear because almost every time my weight has been lower than it is now, it has meant starvation followed by binges, overexercise, or both. I'm nervous that getting smaller will flip that switch inside me -- the seductive one that says, "You know, if you skip that snack/dessert/french fry, you can get back to a size six. You really shouldn't eat that unless you want to gain weight. You had better get in some more exercise today because you ate that piece of cake at work. So what if you're hungry? You can hold off a few more hours...." I should give that voice a name -- perhaps something sexy and seductive like Candy. Then I can talk back to her.

Barb said that I just need to keep reminding myself that I am much stronger than I was a few years ago, or even a year ago. I am much better equipped to deal with that sort of temptation and much better at banishing those types of thoughts. Yes, she is right. I have the freedom to choose to be healthy and that is the choice I'm making.

I'm considering volunteering to be the secretary for the P.T.A. I know that sounds crazy, but T and I are going to give up being on the board in our Retrouvaille group. We're just kind of burned out. We'll still go to the monthly support meetings, but just want to be regular members for a while. I talked with the treasurer this past weekend and she assured me that it really isn't that much work. Ha -- that's what they all say to sucker you in. I'm going to go to the meeting next week to check it out.