I Trust Myself ... I Think

practice listening to your body and trusting yourself - these will get you closer to your health and wellness goals than a program ever could.

it takes practice to know yourself well

In 4 minutes you'll discover:

• Ways to tell if you trust yourself or not

• How trusting oneself is directly related to how we achieve our health and wellness goals

• Your voice is the best voice to follow in order to live a healthier life and reach your health and wellness goals

  
  

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If I asked you “Do you trust yourself?” What would you say?

For so long I would have been quick to say “Yes, of course I trust myself because I think I'm right most of the time (that’s a topic for a different day).” Well, I hate to break it to you that rarely asking for help, feeling like you are always right, and feeling like you need to do everything on your own are actually not good indicators of if you trust yourself. Better ways to gauge if you trust yourself are to reflect on the following:

When you feel a certain way about a situation, do you seek validation from others who will agree with your feelings?

Do you say things like “are you okay if..., are you fine if I..., what do you think I should do about..., what do you think about...” 

Do you tend to keep quiet about your thoughts and opinions, especially if they are not aligned with the majority (friends, family, work meeting, etc.)?

Does it take a long time for you to make big decisions because you feel torn on if you should listen to yourself or to those around you? 

Do you put yourself in situations to make big decisions or does that feel terrifying so you rarely put yourself in a situation to make a big decision? 

I found I was asking myself these very questions when I realized… wtf, wait.. I don’t think I trust myself (even the thought of me not trusting myself I questioned with my "I don't think"). So how does trusting oneself have anything to do with health and wellness and our goals around health and wellness? Get on any social media platform and you will see hundreds of people, content, books, articles, and podcasts all telling you what you should and should not do in order to be healthy. The sentiment is honestly really nice, and is coming from a place of trying to be helpful, but the reality is this: we are left feeling confused, overwhelmed, and unsure where to start. 

Major context is missing here: you, me, and we. What works for one person, and what one person swears by, is true for that person and it may not be true for us. I think it’s amazing we have so many resources out there because it’s a way for us to share ideas and try things we may not have thought of on our own. The problems arise when we completely lose our voice in the noise of other people’s experiences and feel like other people must know more about our bodies, and how to reach our health goals, than we do. 

To help me reach my health goals I tracked my food for months making sure I hit my macro goals and calorie goals each day. This food tracking app was not inherently bad, but it did become bad for my health when I’d go to bed hungry because I already hit my calorie goal for the day, when I would count out every grape to make sure I didn’t go over my sugar goal, when I’d input all my food for the day in the morning so I could be certain at the end of the day I'd hit all my goals. Then it hit me how disconnected with my body I truly was. I thought I was giving my body what it needed, which isn’t totally incorrect, but I was listening to an app over listening to my body. I trusted this app to get me to my goals more than I trusted myself to get me to my goals.

There is so much noise around what we should be doing to reach our health and wellness goals and some of those tips are helpful and some are not. I'm curious about what it would look like if we didn’t put so much weight and trust into what other people swear by and instead turn the attention inward? You want to move your body more? Well, does it feel more enjoyable to go to the gym and lift weights, garden, play basketball, go for a walk, ride your bike, or rock climb? You want to eat more nutrient dense foods? Well, does it feel better to completely restrict yourself or get creative in the kitchen and make some of your favorite sweet treats from natural sugar like honey, maple syrup and dates? 

I hope you see where I'm going with this and trust me when I say you know yourself best and through trial and error you will figure out the most sustainable way for you to live a healthier life. And yes, I'm talking to you. Even if you are someone who has tried so many different things and “fallen off the wagon” I am talking to you. Listen to yourself and get to know yourself and you’ll soon enough figure out the most sustainable way for you to achieve your health goals and beyond.

-Danielle