Feeling better now, thanks.

Today wasn’t the best day ever.  It was a Monday, in every sense of the word.

Work was chaotic and I ended up staying much later than I intended.  After finally getting home, I had a paper to edit, dogs to feed and walk, me to feed and then a Google Hangout with my Lean Eating buds.

Because I was feeling stressed and pressed for time, I ate while editing.  With a lot of awareness, I shoveled in chips and guacamole and a sandwich without even tasting it.  And you know what?  I couldn’t have cared less.  I knew what I was doing and I did it anyway because it would have been hard to do things the right way and I just didn’t feel like it.  I fell into the whole “it was a bad day and I deserve to eat whatever I want” trap.

So, it was coming up on 7pm — time for my Google Hangout/accountability meeting — and I was not only feeling stuffed and cruddy, but guilty on top of that.  I thought about not getting online for the meeting because I’d either have to lie about my day or ‘fess up and I really hate admitting to people when I’ve failed.

The old me would have made an excuse not to go.  The new me — despite also being the new me that still had tortilla chip dust on my fingers — decided that I needed the meeting.  And you know what?  Talking to the other women, telling them about my day and the choices I made… it was good.  It felt like by getting it out in the open, it no longer had the power to weigh me down.  Confession is good for the soul (or, at least that’s what my Catholic upbringing pounded into me).

It happened, and I wish I could have acted differently, but these moments are a part of life and really, my success will depend on being able to shrug them off and get right back at it. As my mentor said, if everything were always perfect, you’d never learn.  It’s the mistakes and the tangents and bumps in the road that teach the lessons that will stick with you.

So, I’ll wipe off the tortilla chip dust and pick myself back up and make better choices next time.  Because there’s always another chance to make a good decision, right?