I am a quitter. Not in the sense of the word that means that I give up easily, but in the sense of the word that I am slowly learning when to stop doing something that is harmful to my body. Admittedly, I have not been a quick learner in this realm, by nature being stubbornly competitive in everything I do in a never-ending effort to prove myself.
Yesterday I began a 3-day cleanse that involved severely restricted calorie intake — something that I never recommend for others — and I quit only ten hours into the cleanse after my mind reverted back to unhealthy negativity about food. You see, for me, someone with a decade history of disordered eating, there are things that I must avoid in order to maintain my current healthy relationship with food, and I learned yesterday that a cleanse is one of them.
There is a fine line between pride and confidence, and if you find yourself doing something that you know is unhealthy, take the high road and quit when necessary, because this isn’t quitting, it is in fact the opposite. Had I held strong to my desire to finish out my cleanse, I would have set myself back mentally for no legitimate reason; my quitting the cleanse was actually a mental triumph for me.
My lesson yesterday is a lesson of putting on horse blinders to those around us, a lesson we can all be reminded of from time to time. I wanted to do a cleanse because it was trendy and because other people I knew were doing one, but the bottom line is that anytime we do something because of other people we will find ourselves in a compromising position to our true needs and our true nature. Resist the temptation to compromise yourself, your health and your sanity. Remember, what is healthy for someone else might not be healthy for you, so know yourself and listen to yourself.
Be too legit to quit on your true self because that is what real winners do.