Our Appearance a Reflection of How We Feel!

I was just eating some mango's not out of hunger but rather than going for cookies I chose the fruit. Why?, well because I got a lot to do, much uncertainty and in some way I am stressed.
NO, I am not whining!  Hear me out....

It does not matter how good we are at controlling stress or our emotions, sometimes we get sidetracked and we fall into the madness.  We can catch ourselves quickly but sometimes we don't realize until a moment of lucidity shows up....possibly when you are eating with out being hungry. Ya know what I mean?  Sometimes we wake up and wonder, "what the heck am I doing?"

OK, so this message is not about dieting and its not about the food groups, its more about how we feel impacts our appearance.  You see if we are depressed, if we feel down we may eat more or not enough.  Some gain weight and some lose weight yet neither is done in a healthy manner.  Why is this?  Well stress triggers our hormones to go nuts and even though the hormones can help us react it can also impact how we eat and what we eat.  Have you ever been stressed and simply lost your appetite?   Have you ever reacted to stress by finding comfort food and lots of it?   We don't intentionally eat or not eat, its a reaction to the stress.  Yet when we fall into these feelings we then also begin to feel guilt of our eating habits.  Before we gain the weight we already feel it or we may feel weakness from not eating enough.  Then we see it in our clothes and again the guilt is more present than the weight change.  We carry ourselves as if wanting to hide what is visible.  We don't want anyone to recognize we lost weight or gained it because we know it was not intentional, in fact we know its tied to something we may not want to or be ready to share.

Our appearance is dependent on how we feel....its a reflection.  Why?  Because if you feel good about yourself, if you feel satisfied of your accomplishments you carry yourself with pride.  You walk tall, speak clearly and you own your step.  It does not matter if you are a little under weight or if you are overweight...your appearance is a direct reflection of how you feel.

The same happens when you feel like crap.  When you feel bad about your results, when you feel like you constantly fail or struggle, you begin to hunch a little, your voice is not as strong as you wish not to be heard and you find yourself excusing yourself or apologizing for silly things,

Does this ring true to you?  If it does.......how are you feeling right now?  When you come across strangers or a group of acquaintances how do you feel, how do you portray yourself?  Do you stand tall and speak clearly or do you find a corner you can hide in?

If  you are not feeling good about you, find why you are feeling this way.  Find what needs to happen for you to feel better, then get clear on what you are willing to commit to doing to help you get there.
Stress is a mind game, and it can kick our ass if we let it.  We can't always talk ourselves out of stress, sometimes we need help and when you do, you should have no shame in seeking a professional.  But there are times that we can do something and that becomes evident when we address our feelings.   Understand that stress is an emotion and that you are perceiving yourself according to such emotion,  Therefore what you see is not the truth of what is there.  It is important to understand this in order to stop ourselves from being cruel to ourselves, remember we can be our own worst enemy,   We can speak cruelty into our lives, we can act in ways that crush our spirit and we can create limitations that do not belong in our lives.

Our Appearance is a Reflection of How We Feel....so what are you feeling?