It's Not What You're Eating, It's What's Eating You by Shari Brady

Author:Shari Brady
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2017-11-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Who Are You? Finding Your Sense of Self

Recognize Your Strengths

If someone asked you to list your twenty strengths, what would you say? In order to change your relationship with yourself and turn it into a more positive one, it is important to recognize and celebrate who you are. Dieting can sabotage self-esteem, and an eating disorder is the perfect recipe for disaster when it comes to recognizing your strengths, abilities, and talents.

Make a list of your strengths and talents. This can be difficult, but you need to come up with at least ten. They don’t have to be ones like winning an Olympic gold medal, either. Start with school. What are your academic strengths? If you’re not someone who gets stellar grades, think outside the classroom: What about your social life, extracurricular clubs, or anything else you participate in? If you can’t find a school-related strength, what about the other areas of your life? Do you have a part-time job? How are you at home? Are you a good organizer? Do you cook? Do you help your friends with their relationship issues because you’re a good listener or a problem-solver? Are you a good driver? Do you babysit? Are you able to relate to small kids? Are you skilled at handling animals? Are you very responsible? Do you dabble in music and art? If you’re still struggling and believe you don’t have any strengths, trust me when I say this: you have strengths; you just can’t see them right now. Our strengths can get buried so deep that we can’t find them. Consider your strengths temporarily misplaced. Keep your journal close by and a pen in hand so you can write your strengths down the minute they pop into your head.

Conversely, if you are aware of your skills or positive qualities, do you discount them? In other words, would you tell someone that anyone could do what you do? Do you convince yourself that your talents aren’t really strengths? If so, read on. The next section might help you see yourself more clearly.

Discover Your Likes and Dislikes

Knowing what you are good at is important. It is also essential to find out what you like and what you don’t like. I know this sounds pretty basic, but when food becomes the “go-to” answer in life, we can lose sight of who we are, which makes it difficult to recall what things truly bring us joy in life.

The following two sets of questions will help you sort out your likes and dislikes. When my kids were in grade school, I would use the first group as a game whenever we were standing in line or driving in the car. It helped pass the time and also assisted them in gaining a stronger sense of self. I call it the “Would You Rather … ?” game. Answer as best as you can, and if you don’t like either choice, you can answer “neither one.”

• Would you rather play a sport or be

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