While the Brain Over Binge course that I was doing online technically ended last week, I didn’t get a chance to finish things with the course until this week. My life has been busy (as I have mentioned over and over lately on here) and I didn’t want to rush through the lessons just to finish on time. I wanted to be able to focus on the lessons and do them properly even if that meant I had to do them on my own time. Fortunately, the course didn’t close access right away so I was able to do that. We actually have online access for another several months, plus all the lessons are downloadable so I have all the handouts and audio files saved for forever.
Every time I try something new, I try to not get my hopes up. I know that nothing is going to be the instant fix I dream of, but it’s hard not to hope that maybe something will somehow be that for me. I want something to just click in my brain and change everything for me. I know that that is unrealistic, but there are rare cases where that happens and I’d love to be one of those. I feel like I’m already a medical oddity so why not be one in the positive sense too.
But as I expected, this wasn’t the miracle I dreamed of. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t helpful. I did find the online course very helpful for me. There were a lot of lessons that were things I have learned in other classes I’ve taken or that I’ve heard in group therapy settings, but it is always good to hear it again because everyone has a way of putting things a little bit differently. And sometimes you need to hear something more than once before it really connects with you.
And sometimes even with something being something you have heard multiple times, you hear a new reason that makes more sense and it helps you understand why you need to do it. And the biggest lesson I got out of the course was a repeat lesson that had a new explanation for me. And that was having a meal plan and a stocked kitchen with “safe” foods. For me, safe foods don’t mean healthy foods. It just means foods that I know I can eat or that I can prepare and will be satisfied with. A majority of it is healthy food, but some of it is not as healthy because I want to have snacks in my house ready to eat so I don’t feel like I need to go out and buy food and then possibly buy more than I need.
Along with having a stocked kitchen is being more aware of trying to stay on a food schedule. And this is something I struggle with. I hate to force myself to eat when I’m not hungry. And I’m rarely hungry in the morning so I don’t like to eat breakfast most of the time. But I know I need to so I get in a better place so that I’m eating a bit more balanced throughout the day and don’t get too hungry later in the day. I’ve been experimenting more with breakfast options and not caring if they are what most people would eat or if they are what others would consider a full meal. Even eating an apple is better than nothing.
While there were lots of other little lessons I learned over the past 9 weeks, I think working on my eating schedule and how I stock my kitchen was the biggest one and that made me think that I want to do the course again so I can see what other lessons I will pick up since that won’t be what I focus on. I don’t want to do the course again immediately since I want to have a bit of time to work on this first, but the benefit of having everything saved on my computer means it will be there for me when I’m ready for it. Maybe this is something I do twice a year? Not sure what the right schedule is for me just yet, but it is definitely something I will be repeating.
I’m so glad that I made this investment in myself. It wasn’t the most expensive thing, but anything extra is a lot when I don’t have a lot of money. But I’m worth the expense and I got something great out of it. And I can’t wait to see what I get out of it the next time I take the course (and the time after that, and the time after that, and so on).
You Might Also Like
The Good Outweighing The Bad? (or When Will I Get Back On Track?)
Just A Bad Day (or Focusing On Good)
Staying Under (or Does It Really Matter What I Eat?)
Another Set Back (or Why Can’t I Just Learn My Lesson)
Binge Eating In The Media (or More Help Might Be On The Way)
Keeping My Emotions In Check (or You Are Not Your Brain)
