Life is full of peaks and valleys, highs and lows. When we are up on top of the world...on top of the peak, we take care of ourselves with no problem because we're feeling so great! Everything seems just as it should be and we run off of positive energy. Often times, we forget to take care of ourselves during the time in the valleys-- the hardest and darkest times in life. These are the times that we MOST need to care for ourselves. This is the time to eat nutritiously so that we feel good inside, exercise as a stress drain, sleep enough to function and have energy.
I believe that nurturing your body during hard times can help you ward off depression. Eating horribly will only make you feel remorse, give you low energy, and stress your body. Emotional eating will undo what you have worked so hard for and really will not make you feel any better. It won't solve your problems. I have first person experience to this lately...I'm watching my dad lose his battle to cancer and many days I have felt an incredible urge to stuff my face with something I shouldn't just to make the pain inside go away for just a minute. To be honest, I have given into that.....and then, I think, "Why did I do that? I knew it wouldn't help." I'm human like the rest of you and I don't know where we got this idea that food consoles us. Maybe it can console you while it's in your mouth, but as soon as you swallow, it's over.
What's my point? Life is hard sometimes. Harder than we ever thought possible. In fact, it can be such an emotional roller coaster, we don't know how to act. Just keep moving forward through it all.....climb the peaks, trudge through the valleys, find out how it makes you the person you are or are meant to be. Treat yourself nicely along the way and take care or yourself even when it seems impossible.
