"I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
Michael Jordan
Many of us have an affronting voice. For me it goes something like this: You're just fooling yourself if you think . . . Don't forget the last time you tried to . . . Sure, it will work for others but you're damaged goods . . . Anything good in you is just a cover-up for the real messed-up person inside. And on and on it goes. Everyone has their own version, perfectly created to speak to your deepest fears and failures.
What if you talked back? What if you said, Yes, I am going to fail but that is okay because no matter how many times I fail, I’m not going to quit. You are going to fail sometimes when you try to change your diet. Expect it! Give yourself room to fail. See failure as as important to change as success. We learn much about ourselves in the dark inner place of failure. We learn how courageous we are. We learn that vision is greater than sight, and faith is greater than the lying voice that we have had to live will all our lives.
Expect to fail, but expect to grow and change. It is impossible to relentlessly exert energy toward a goal without seeing good results. I had to learn that the hard way and so will you. It took years to condition your body and emotions to a destructive, addictive diet, so you are not going to fix it overnight. Remember, change is like giving birth: there is pain, but all will be forgotten when the fruit of your labor is smiling back at you in the mirror: health, youth and vitality.
Do not expect others to pat you on the back or encourage you. Often it is the opposite. For support, we recommend the Freedomyou Bulletin Board, where hundreds of people just like yourself are encouraging one another daily.
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