8. What to do with the "I Just Woke Up and Feel Body Gross" Feeling
Body Breaking Free Podcast
Episode 8
What to do with the "I Just Woke Up and Feel Body Gross" Feeling
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You wake up and you're feeling crummy. You're feeling uncomfortable, maybe you ate too much last night, maybe you ate that pint of ice cream (that you really didn't want) but it happened, and now you feel bloated and guilt.
Ever been there?
The problem is the same thing keeps happening. You wake up, maybe the next Monday, and the cycle start over again. Then, you have this feeling of just trying to keep one foot ahead of the other.
The really big problem with this, is it keeps you feeling stuck. You are stuck in this cycle of ups and downs. It is wasting your time, energy and most importantly your purpose. How are you suppose to move forward in a body you feel stuck in? Right?
I know you want to feel good in your body, to feel good about how you look in your body. You want to show up - and be that version of yourself you can’t stop dreaming about. In energy in purpose. So let’s tackle that “I just woke up and I feel gross” so we can feel better, and move forward with our health goals.
Let’s un-complicate this. We are going to make it really doable and simple.
FIRST, LET’S ZOOM OUT
Let’s first gain some perspective of the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that we can’t just control the situation, decide “this is it, I am going on a diet tomorrow.” I mean, we can do this, but it will not lead to long-term results. When we go into some extreme mindset (like “I will never eat sugar again”) we are setting ourselves up for failure. Sure, we could lose all the weight, but it will only be short-term results. BECAUSE we didn’t start from a place of transformation, we just had short-term change, but long-term habits, patterns, beliefs are all still there. That is why so many of us gain back the weight - studies say it is up to 80% to 90% of people gain back weight.
We want transformation! We want lasting change!
Am I right? So instead of going into some extreme state, we need to give ourselves a little patience, know that long-term success depends on the small steps, and choose to approach this moment differently.
This is a perfect place to start! Now it is even better. Now we have the perspective. Now we have the patience to ask for true change. Lasting change.
ZOOM BACK INTO THE MOMENT OF “I JUST WOKE UP AND FEEL GROSS”
Now in this moment of not feeling good, we can take the pressure off because it’s not about getting into some extreme state. Even if you had all the motivation in this moment, in the long-run it still wont make transformation.
Let’s dive into the 5 tools that will tackle (and help) this moment of “I just woke up and feel gross”
#1 The ok Factor.
Acceptance is going to be the first place of being able to move forward with the day. Being OK with where you are today. You also know your perspective has shifted, and we are not focusing on the small details anymore. I don’t need to go into some extreme state that is not going to serve me. SO the best thing you can do for yourself today - is bring some acceptance into it. We think, or our ego loves to think, acceptance is an act of letting go. Preventing change. And we have to give up our goals. It is actually 100% the opposite. If we bring acceptance, we actually open the space to move forward better and faster AND then we can approach our goals even better. If we don’t find acceptance, we will just carry that negativity to the next few days or the week.we are just going to hinder change even more.
Tara Brachs Quote “The way out of our cage begins with accepting absolutely everything about ourselves and our lives, by embracing with wakefulness and care our moment-to-moment experience.” Book Reference = “Radical Acceptance” by Tara Brach
#2 Reframing Discomfort.
Pema Chodron Quote
“When things are shaky and nothing is working, we might realize that we are on the verge of something. We might realize that this is a very vulnerable and tender place, and that tenderness can go either way. We can shut down and feel resentful or we can touch in on that throbbing quality.” Book Reference: When Things Fall Apart, by Pema Chodron
So powerful, right? Really noticing the discomfort and what is coming up for you and your mind and body. And without having to put any labels on it. So if there's pressure in my chest, I'm feeling anxiety, or my stomach totally feels bloated, connecting back into your body, instead of putting the labels. Labels like - “oh no! This doesn’t feel good! Ugh, why did I eat that ice cream last night? Shoot, my chest is really tight.”
That just creates more fear and negativity. But what if we can approach the sensations? Just see and be curious about them? Like, what is that really feel like? Can I just sit with that tightness, and let it be there without having to change anything? This will really open up some space to that moment experience. We think there is something there that we're running away from — but really, we're just running away from ourselves. We think we're running from the pain, the discomfort, but REALLY we're just pushing ourselves away our uniqueness our authentic self in that moment. And so the more that we can notice fears, the discomfort, maybe even make friends with them, the more honest and real relationship we have with ourselves. The choice to either get trapped up in the drama and negativity, or put ourselves in a place of evaluation and change.
#3 Nervous system balance.
Feeling Centered & Balanced: When we wake up and we don't feel good, and we want to get back to that feeling of in control, exercising, eating healthy, getting back, quote, unquote, on track. So this feeling of control, if it is a positive control, it's not that grasping anxiety, it's rather a feeling of “I got this”, “I feel like I'm moving in the right direction”. And that's actually really a centered feeling. It's not really control, right. It's more of an alignment clarity. What's working For you and your path, it's not really control, because control is in this state of we want to fix everything. We're trying to move parts, we're trying to get into our schedule, and control what's actually happening and how our schedule is happening. So we don't actually really want that like, none of us really want that because we want to be enjoying life. And we want the journey to feel easy and relaxed, full. While we're making change. While we're approaching our goals. We kind of want this like flow state, and that's that centered feeling, rather than the control that you feel like you want. Like, really, we want just to feel centered. So what does this have to do with the nervous system. So the nervous system, there is the parasympathetic, (the rest) and the sympathetic (the flight or flight). And that's when those two are balanced that we really can feel centered. We can also call this our “Social engagement mode”
Very often, because we're busy in life, we have responsibilities, pressures running around, we live in a chronic state of stress, the sympathetic fight or flight is heightened. Your cheeks get hot, your voice tightens. So your body's reacting
But, we want to feel like ourselves, we don't want to feel flustered. You want to feel like you're relaxed, your ears are open to listening, your vocal cords are not strained. They're open, they're speaking your truth, your voice.
That moment of “I just woke up and feel horrible” your nervous system is out of wack. In this moment, you probably have some inflammation going on either by what you ate, or what your thoughts are causing in your body that stress, guilt shame. You might be short of breath, you might notice that your body is literally reacting in a panic state.
So what do we do in this moment, we want to fix everything, right? We want to grasp on with that control, we want to solve it, we don't want to feel like we don't want to feel like shit, we want to feel good. But we can't fix our nervous system. Right? It's part of us, just like we can't fix how we feel about something. And that's also just part of us. So now that we know a little bit about the nervous system, we know the difference between controlling. And we know that feeling of centered. And we also know that in that moment, there's no reason to try and control anything, the only thing we can really do is bring awareness to it. I'm sure there are ways and breathing exercises, the Wim Hof Method, which we've talked about in previous episodes, that actually can start to regulate and balance out your nervous system. And I could give you that to do. So if you want to tool in that moment, taking some deep belly breaths, recentering. But I don't really want to give you that tool in that moment. Instead, I don't want to give you something to do, I want you to become aware. Because the more aware we start to notice really what's happening in our body, the nervous system, then we start to really change our patterns. Maybe that week or the next week, we explore some breathing techniques and a Wim Hof Method. And then we can really see how it does change our life. But in that moment of stress and anxiety, just really not feeling good. Again, it's not the motivation. It's not what you're going to do. It's not that control. It's more of a surrendering and letting go.
#4 Practice of Surrender
This might be one moment of feeling bad, but its a big deal. Its weighing on you. And really its this cycle that is preventing you to move forward. SO it is a big deal, and the stakes are high. And I don’t want to shy away from that.
I don’t want to put any labels on it. I don’t want to seem like its a negative thing. I just want to lift the weight. I want you to know its OK for it to exist as a bigger deal. Because when it comes to recovery - (and we learned this from ep5 - Emily Podschweit talks about recovery with her eating disorder) its a process of surrender. We don’t have the control. Especially when its something that you are really sensitive to or have trauma from.
Like for example, when I had these moments in the past, I would brush them off. I would say “OK this sucks, I need to do better, I need to get to the gym today.” But I was literally in a panic state, I was very sensitive, and it was a much bigger deal then I was making out to be. It was trauma showing up in my self & body. It lifted the weight off of me once I finally started to acknowledge how triggering it really was.
I want a space here for you to be you. And whatever is real for you - to be open for it to show up. And the more we can be honest with ourselves, especially the scary parts, the more we can connect to whats true for us. Connect to your authentic self, connect to your body.
So surrendering to letting go. And this might be the best place to start. And I don’t mean to let go - and just lay in bed and feel back about yourself. I mean being empowered in your truth, and moving in a direction that feels really positive. So pushing yourself, grasping for control - if that doesn’t feel good. Maybe for today, just saying where you are at, surrendering to that. And being ok with it. Taking some of the pressure off.
#5 Changing Perspective.
So all of these other tools give us a little perspective. But most often we can get really stuck in our own head and thoughts. Can we look up - and get out of this?
CBS Sunday Morning - ALS Story
Watch Here
While I was watching this, It changed my perspective of living in a body and what’s truly important. When I think about Brian and how much his perspective, everyday was changing - How he felt in his body, what he thought was really important. Each day in 6 months being this totally new experience. And I also wonder what he thought about before ALS, and what he thought was important with his body (exercising, staying on top of nutrition). Then what changed after his diagnosis, and with what he realized was truly important.
Now I know that we are not all living like today is the last day we get to be alive. And we have responsibilities, schedules, and its life - we need to be exercising, and taking care of our body. BUT its these kinds of stories that can totally take us out of our own world, our own head. It is so valuable to get that bigger perspective.
We can continue to build that muscle of gratitude. Gratitude when you wake up and you get to live another day. AND not discarding that feeling of “body gross” and you don’t feel good. Because like I said, that is a big deal. BUT at the same time, maybe there is also a chance to just have one thought of gratitude. You can think ok, my tummy has knots, my head hurts, BUT i can still be grateful that I can live another day. Just that one thought can go a long way.
Get out of our stuckness, getting out of our own way. And opening up to a bigger perspective … of body and of life
