How to Know You're Making Progress (A Letter From (and to) My 16-Year-Old Self)
"Since I got back from Spain, I gained a lot of weight over the summer — like 10 pounds.
I know that shouldn't bother me as much as it does — weight is just a number that no one but me needs to know — but I just want to be skinny.
I eat pretty healthily most of the time, but then there are days when I completely ruin it. And not just 1 day; it's usually like 3 days in a row every 2 weeks.
I try to concentrate on it, but it's so hard... I know that the weight issue will probably be a lifelong battle for me; I just wish I was one of those very lucky people who didn't have to be concerned with it.
But I don't know really why I'm so obsessed with it either.
Being skinny won't make me any smarter or get me into Duke, & if more guys like me just because I look better then they aren't really worth it.
But I would kill to look in the mirror and love what I see every morning."
This is a note from my journal one week into my senior year of high school.
This is one of the times that journaling really tugs at your heartstrings. If you don’t have a regular journaling practice, I’d encourage you to start, even if it’s just one line in your planner or on your phone about how you felt that day, and this is why: you gift yourself the opportunity to witness your growth in real time.
Life can easily feel like an uphill slog, a Sisyphean endeavor in which we’re always working but never really getting anywhere.
Until you look back, combing through your journal or your memories and see you’ve traveled quite far; sometimes growth occurs in giant leaps, and sometimes in imperceptible inches begotten from a small, simple choice.
Dear 16 year old Steph: you made it (and Duke sucks, and you didn't have to kill anyone but your insecurities to get here).
How'd I get there? I'll be hosting a FREE 5-day email challenge to get to the root of your goals and learn EXACTLY how to feel at home in your body, beginning March 24.
Let's get free. Sign up here:
xoxo,
Steph
