Lifestyle Talk: In Moderation

This is a phrase that used to feel foreign to me in my earlier 20's- or even in my late teenage years. For as long as I can remember, I've had this fight or flight mentality inside of me; I used to think that the only viable solutions were to either give it my all or to just give nothing. When I look back, I realize that this way of thinking was unhealthy and too extreme. It always left me tired, but also continually searching like there was something missing.

I've had days where I've come close to giving up. I've even had days where I just allowed myself to give up because of how tired I was. It's like I didn't feel comfortable with just allowing certain situations to take their course and wait for things to get better, and every time I was in that in-between phase where I was struggling to hold on, that fight or flight mentality would take hold of me and I'd go back to square one with my thoughts.

Impulse control is something that I feel is a struggle a lot of us can relate to. It can definitely be a struggle to just let go and allow things to be as they are without feeling that urge to act upon something immediately. One thing that has helped me is to just talk to myself and rationalize my anxious thoughts. Breaking down the very thought patterns inside your head is not an easy thing to do, but the truth here is that if anybody else tries to do it for you, the chances of your brain listening in that overwhelmed/emotionally-driven state are about 50/50 even though you may try to convince them that you are listening.

Doing things in moderation, or in a way that's more flexible, will definitely lead to more happiness in the end. If you're too strict with yourself, then there's a high chance that you'll probably fail at maintaining whatever habit you're trying to change. If you're too lenient on other hand, then there's even less of a chance of you making that change. You have to start somewhere, and this advice can easily be applied to anything in life whether if it's with your health/well-being or with your relationships and how you handle certain conflicts in life.

I personally believe that we all deserve to feel our best in every aspect of life. The kinds of habits we maintain and the kinds of relationships we keep are important. The way we treat ourselves and how we maintain our energy is important. If we treated ourselves the way we'd want other people to treat us, then maybe this world we live in would feel a little more bearable and we'd all start to live "in harmony" with each other.