Just Stay On The Path

“Any moment I could start being a better person,

but which moment do I choose?”

(tyres?)

There is nothing like becoming a Mother to reveal all of your unhealthy living choices and put a big fat yellow highlighter through them.

Since undergoing my quest for fitness, another area that has been well-recorded, is my quest for healthy eating.

I am ferociously aware of the role-model I am in forming the healthy habits that Monte will take with him through life.

For the first two years I fed him so healthily, content in the fact that if I was scoffing something unhealthy, or skipping breakfast and then chowing down in the afternoon he would be blissfully unaware of what I was up to.

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, that time has passed.

If I so much as creep over to the cupboard to sneak a bickie in, the eyes and ears of my house is onto it, and “I’ll have what she’s having” kicks in.

Since turning two, or maybe a little before, Monte’s love of anything I dished up including vegetables ahoy, changed.

Like a lot of toddlers, his unquestioning acceptance of broccoli and cauliflower went out the window quicker than a cat burgular making a swift getaway.

And, my not so good habits have, unfortunately, introduced him to ‘the dark side’.

Our frequent trips to the cafe while Mama has a latte has introduced him to ice-creams and biscuits and all things sweet. Giving him a taste here and there seemed harmless enough.

Now I am starting to realise that my biscuits here and there and letting him have a little here and there is not teaching him the right way to eat, it is simply passing on the emotional way I eat.

So he scoffs a few rice cracker biscuits at 6.00pm and then when I cook up a healthy dinner I start pulling my hair out with frustration that he would rather climb on the coffee table and do the hot shoe shuffle then even take a bite of the nutritious meal I served up.

I have been consoling myself with how commonplace it is for toddlers to go off their vegetables, acquire new tastes and ‘go through phases.’

But, the truth is, I blame myself.

I have been battling for a long time to JUST EAT HEALTHILY.

I am painfully aware that I need to be the change I want to see in Monte.

Yes, I have improved greatly and I am possibly being too hard on myself, but I feel SO responsible for forming his healthy relationship with food that it makes me feel painfully inadequate when it comes to eating well.

Let me rephrase that, I understand what it is to eat well, but I am painfully aware of my own sabotaging patterns on my own health and terrified they are being passed on.

Thanks to a fantastic private group on Facebook called the Mindful Munchers, a group of us post everything that we eat in a day. This act keeps us honest, motivated and we are all supportive of each other.

Everyone has a different goal and everyone has their own demons.

I love being part of the group and have learned so much about my own patterns by writing them down daily and being inspired by others.

We share links, info, and challenges. It is a wonderful group and I am stoked to be among such inspiring women. (If you’d like to join send me a message on Facebook and I’ll add you in.)

It is through this group that I have realised there is no ‘destination’ with changing habits. It is the journey, and the worst thing I could do would be to proclaim I have failed and to exit.

Mindfully eating, and mindfully teaching is my journey.

Monte is going to learn so much more from me committing to this journey than simply watching me wolf down some broccoli.

He is going to learn that everybody strays from time to time from the path they wish to be on, everybody gives into temptations, lets themselves down and sabotages their best efforts.

What everybody doesn’t do is let themselves off the hook for such deeds, brush themselves off and commit to staying on the journey, knowing that it is not going to end.

Accepting the journey will have bumps and dips and head on collisions on the way to a smoother path.

So, in writing this post I have realised what I want to teach Monte :

It is so important to stay committed to your own path of Self Improvement.

There is no right or wrong, JUST, whatever you do - stay on the path.