As Stay Strong September comes to a close, I’ve been thinking a lot about the ways we stay strong in recovery. While some are obvious – we follow our food plans no matter what, we ask for help when we need it, and we stay connected to others who are also food dependent – others are not. And some don’t even make sense until you think about them.
Staying strong by letting go is one of these. When I first heard this idea, I needed to really think about it to understand how letting go would give me strength. Before recovery, I believed that I just had to try harder to find a way to lose weight and keep it off. Letting go, giving up, wasn’t an option for me.
I thought I needed to keep fighting, to keep trying anything and everything I could to lose weight. I did this for decades until I was so exhausted that I had no energy left to keep fighting. I was too humiliated and depressed to keep going. I decided to try one more thing before resigning myself to a miserable life. I let go.
Of course, that one more thing was to attend an Acorn Intensive, which is the program that not only saved but changed my life. Almost the minute I decided to stop fighting, I found the answers I had been fighting to find.
I never imagined that the act of letting go would make me stronger than I’ve ever been in my entire life. By letting go and surrendering to the things I learned at the Acorn Intensive, I’ve been able to lose more than half of my body size and that’s only the beginning!
As I’ve continued in my recovery, I’ve learned that letting go of people, places and things allows me to keep the serenity that I cherish. When I let go, I stop trying to run the show and I let things happen naturally. I no longer need to convince people to do the things I think they should do – you know how well that goes!
Though I may make plans or have goals, I understand that if these change then there is something better out there for me. I do my best not to attach myself to any one outcome by reminding myself that I do not always know what is best for me or anyone else.
This can be challenging but when I can truly let go, I gain a strength that I didn’t know I had.
I hope you stay strong for the rest of the month and check back to see what our theme is for October!