I look forward to my Friday evenings every week. It’s usually the same script: grass finished steak, sweet potatoes with truffle salt, asparagus or other greens and pre-dinner high-end bourbon or whiskey. It’s what the beginnings of weekends are made of.
But some Friday evenings are rather self-indulgent. Recently I had over 1.5 lbs of steak with 2 sweet potatoes and a heaping of roasted asparagus drenched in olive oil. I even tossed in a couple spoon-fulls of ice cream at the end. All of this before 7 pm. I did not put anything into my body until after noon the next day. My body felt like an aircraft carrier that absorbed more fighter planes on deck that it could handle…
But I was ok with that.
It’s about acceptance and the willingness to let myself go a little overboard sometimes. I have to have off days in order to feel like I’ve knocked it out of the park on my good days. It’s being aware that I have a propensity to have nights like this to become in touch with who I really am.
That being said, in order to truly love myself, I not only have to become accepting of my extravagance but also weigh the worth of it. Do I want to feel smoked the next day in exchange for a few extra mouthfuls (okay—maybe 10 extra mouthfuls) the evening before?
Being okay with going a little overboard can create a pathway to
understand why I think I’m deserving of it. Most of the time, I go overboard and I know during the time that I am and still do it. Other times I can stop myself and think it through that I am about to go too far and I stop.
How do we balance all of this? Do we need to? Or is it just understanding ourselves a little better so that we can truly respect and love who we are?
After listening to a podcast about 6 months ago (on one of the 4-5 I religiously listen to) on self love and
respect, I decided to buy the book by the author being interviewed. When I got the book in the mail, I did an internal eye-roll to myself. I thought: “do I really need help with this? I seem like a guy who has things together and is raising a healthy family.”
But I did need help. And I needed to read the book. I’ve actually re-read several passages several times.
One of the resounding mantras of the book is looking at myself in the mirror and saying: “I love myself” over and over. And when I feel stressed, I revert back to that. And it works for me.
I’m not saying to get a self help book or shrink. (I have had therapists in my past and I’ve gotten and used some self-help books, but I know they aren’t for everyone). But I do think that having a daily axiom or aphorism to adhere to is an extremely important reminder of self acceptance. It’ll help you bounce back quickly and get you back on your roadway without remorse.
Carve out your pathway to be the best of yourself that you can to fulfill your goals. Know that it can’t be 100% foolproof because no one wants to live that way. Falling off the wagon is normal. Having the self reliance to get back on it is what it’s all about.
Our bodies and minds weren’t made to be perfect. We are supposed to have hiccups when reaching for our pinnacles. Just make sure you have a method to cure yourself of the hiccups when you have them and maybe even laugh along when you get those hiccups.
Or have a 2 lb steak when you really feel like it. Because it’s sometimes worth it. And sometimes you actually deserve it and then kick back and feel the (incredibly) full intoxication of 500 grams of protein.
Just make sure to wake up the next morning and tell yourself that you love yourself. Because you deserve that too. -CT
