Are you feeling a bit low?

I can help.

In a few moments I’m going to make you do something. Don’t worry I’m not going to hypnotize you, make you cluck like a chicken, or anything like that. I’m simply going to ask you to do something. I’ll explain later…

Ready? Good, just go for it!

Now, here are the steps, follow them carefully:

1. Stretch the sides of your mouth further outwards and upwards a little (no need to use your hands, work those muscles!).

2. Show me some teeth. That’s it, a little more… that’s right.

3. Squint a little with your eyes.

4. As you squint, stretch the sides of your mouth outwards and upwards, and show me some teeth, let out a big HEHEHEEEE! Like this…

That’s right, a big old lough belly jiggling laugh! Now, try it one more time. And again… Feel good yet?

Yes, you just made yourself laugh on purpose and for no reason at all, yet you still get to feel good!

 And not only that, in doing this, your brain has just released 37 different feel good chemicals that are going to help you feel good a little longer, have a great day, and improve your physical and mental health.

Laughter will also increase your mental clarity, memory, productivity and problem solving abilities.

You read right!

When was the last time you had a good laugh like this?

One of those that have your belly jiggling, your jaw in pain, your lungs begging for air, and your bladder struggling to contain itself?

The other day I asked this to a coaching client and they told me they couldn’t remember the last time the smiled, let alone laugh.

It wasn’t the first time I got that answer from a client.

What a pity, isn’t it? That we make smiling and laughing a conditional part of life.

Because the thing is, as you’ve experienced for yourself, it doesn’t matter whether your laugh is genuine, or whether you fake it. When we smile, and when we laugh, our facial nerves send a message to the brain that it’s time to feel good, and you’ll find it almost impossible, if not completely impossible to feel bad.

 Trust me, I’ve tried this myself, and with clients many times!

You know when you’re in a mood, or feeling low, and a family member, friend or colleague does or says something silly to make you laugh?

And the next thing you know you’re laughing and cursing them for making you laugh?

 You should thank them instead. We should thank them instead.

They just did you a massive favor, they might even have saved you from a heart attack, or worse. And in the process they also helped lengthen your life span!

 Amazing what such a simple thing can do for us.

So do me, and yourself a massive favor, smile, and laugh, and have  a great day!

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John, my husband, and I spent some quality time together, training in the gym, walking around Howth Head and harbour, and just chillaxing for a change.

Sometimes there’s nothing better than good old doing nothing to recuperate and rejuvenate the body and mind.

When I say doing nothing I’m not talking about sitting in front of the telly with a bowl of crisps, watching whatever’s on whilst twitting on your phone.

I’m talking about doing nada, zero, zilch, nothing at all!
Have you tried that lately?

During a recent TV interview actress Joanna Lumley talked about this and about the overload of information we subject our mind and body to on a daily basis.

What happened to traveling on the train or bus, gazing out the window and just admiring the landscape or the sights as we pass?

No, we’ve to have a book in one hand, a chocolate bar in the other, and an ipod stuck to our ears too.

I agree with Joanna that this constant overload of information is not doing us any favors.

I believe it overworks the mind, stifles creativity, and forces us into a state of constant craving, where we feel like we need to be doing more and more… we’ve become information addicts.

Why the need to be busy at all times?

It’s not like busier means we’re cleverer, richer, or happier; in fact I think the opposite might be truer.

It’s like we’ve turned into hamsters; we stepped on a treadmill, and worked up our speed so much that now we can’t seem to slow down, even though a lot of us are screaming and begging to get off.

Well, sometimes, less is more of what we need. Sometimes, nothing is everything we need.

When I was in Spain back in April I turned my phone off for ten days and didn’t even bring my laptop with me. No calls, no texts, no facebook, no twitter, no email.

It was a very conscious decision. At the beginning I was a little anxious to be honest. What if I missed something important?

Ten days later, apart from the messages left on my voice mail and a few tons of emails, I had missed… not much at all really.

Switching off on purpose now and again is the best thing, and it’s incredibly liberating! I hadn’t properly relaxed like this in a long time, and I strongly recommend you try it too.

If you’ve been feeling a little, or a lot, overwhelmed by things, stuck, confused, anxious, or feeling low lately, turn the switch off for a bit and let your body and mind recharge naturally.

 Try my Switch Off routine:

1. Next weekend turn off your mobile phone for 48hours, and stay away from the computer, TV, ipod, and any other electronic piece of equipment. Leave these behind if possible. Make any arrangements to see family or friends in advance, just like we did back in the day…
 
 
2. If you use your phone to wake you up in the morning, get a traditional alarm clock to do the job for a couple of days, or let your body wake up naturally with sunlight.
 
 
3. Spend your weekend outdoors as much as possible, being active, or just relaxing soaking up the sun (or the rain) and the fresh air.
 
 
4. At the end of this little “experiment” notice and take note of how different you feel. Now incorporate this Switch Off routine into your life. Do it once a week or a couple of times a month to help your body and your brain refresh and recharge.

Hey, let me know how you get on!

Anna

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A couple of weeks ago when I was in Spain I overheard a couple of lovely elderly ladies conversing about an article on the newspaper.

I’d been reading the same article they were debating that same morning. The article talked about the reasons that drove six different people in different parts of The Basque Country to commit suicide.

Some men, some women, but all relatively young, had chosen to end their lives. Financial problems seemed to be the common denominator.

My chin trembled and my eyes filled up as I read their personal stories of unpaid mortgages, redundancy, unemployment, eviction, children left behind… worries, depression, and secrets kept from partners, family and friends.

I’ve felt very very low on several occasions in my life. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider putting an end to it all when I suffered from anorexia and bulimia, which also led to anxiety and panic attacks. I know what rock bottom feels like, even though what lead to my rock bottom is probably different from what lead these people to their rock bottom.

I remember feeling one thing above everything else though: numb. Ridiculous pain, not physical but of the mind, and worse still self-inflicted, had become so unbearable that I felt nothing. I saw no future, no colors, I heard nothing but the continuous negative ramblings from the voices in my head, I felt not like a person any more, but like a thing, a nothing actually.

Even before that I’d felt really bad physical pain before in my life, but nothing compares to the soul destroying pain the mind can inflict, if we allow it

I remember telling myself “if I leave now, no one will probably even notice, and if they do, yes they might cry for a bit, but they’ll get over it and the world will go on”.

When I read the aforementioned article, as my heart crumbled a little inside my chest, for a few moments I thought about exactly the same thing the two elderly grannies were talking about:

There are millions of people in Africa, India, China, and other countries in the world, where men, women and children live in tents, with no homes, no jobs, no money, no food, no certain future… nothing, but hope.

I’ve never seen or experienced extreme poverty first hand. All I know is the stories my own dad tells me of how when he was little he, his 5 brothers and sisters, his alcoholic dad and blind mum lived in a one bedroom house, and they’d have to raid the fields sometimes, looking for whatever vegetables and fruit they could get their hands on. I’ve heard many times how when grandma managed to cook a pot of stew, they all had to tuck into the same pot and he who eat the quickest got the most food, whilst he who wasn’t quick enough missed out.

Why do some people continue to hang in there and continue to fight, whilst others decide to leave us?

No matter how low I felt in my life, I never followed through with my darkest thoughts. But when I heard the two old ladies talk about the same thought that had crossed my mind only a couple of hours earlier, I kind of choked up again a little. Because I know how I felt, and somehow I was able to guess, at least a little bit, how desperate these people, strangers but brothers – after all we’re all connected in my eyes – must have felt.

I couldn’t help but think that if we, as brothers and sisters of the same mother, mother Earth, stopped being so disconnected with each other and started talking and sharing more, we could maybe prevent these horrible things happening.

So let’s friggin’ do more of this, because as the two old grannies said:

Back in the day we used to smile at strangers on the street and say hello to everyone who crossed our path, we used to stop and talk to people for a while, and help each other when in need. Back in the day we used to know our neighbors, we used to feed other people’s children, we sued to share a loaf of bread… we didn’t have much either, but we used to care. Back in the day we were all in it together.

I dedicate this little post to the people we’ve lost, and the two lovely grannies who made me cry, but also made me smile

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Did You Know That We Use 2% Of Our Actual Brain Power?

Ever feel like you’re stuck, or that you just can’t think straight?

That’s because your brain is stuck, and can’t think straight, literally!

Imagine Pacman (remember the computer game?) traveling along the neural pathways inside your brain, hitting a wall and bouncing off it, hit and bounce off, hit and bounce off, hit and… over and over again, boing, boing, boing… it’s stuck.

Our brain has reached a point where it can’t think, and that’s when we feel like we’re stuck, like we can’t think straight, like our brain’s not working… it can be so frustrating!

Yet a lot of us do nothing but continue to force the upstairs machinery, try to push through, think harder or for longer…

When a car runs out of petrol we fill it up with fuel, when it gets a flat tyre we replace it, when it breaks down we get it fixed, yet when it comes to the brain we expect it to sort itself out somehow.

Not good, something needs to change… take up Brainaerobics!

Brainaerobics is a series of practical and psychological exercises and tips proven to boost your brain power with minimum effort and in next to no time.

Check out my Top Brainaerobics Tips:

1# Get Your Brekkie On: We know what our bodies need to stay healthy and in good shape. But what does the brain burn for fuel? What food does it need to not just survive, but thrive? What you eat first thing in the morning can make or break your brain chemistry for the day, affecting not only your ability to burn fat but also your mental clarity and acuity. A brain friendly breakfast should contain 4 ingredients: a big glass of mineral water mixed with the juice of half a lemon, a quality source of protein such as eggs, a source of vitamins minerals and fibre in the form of one or two different vegetables, and good fats (also in egg yolks, which you can cook in coconut oil, incidentally one of the healthiest fat sources) such as avocados, or nuts.

2# Hit The Brainy Snacks: According to neuroscientists these foods are proven to make you more intelligent!: organic dried prunes, organic dark raisins, organic walnuts and organic almonds. Include a handful of any of these first thing in the morning and/or as a snack throughout the day, and expect to exponentially multiply your productivity.

3# Stand Up And Go: The top guys at IBM have standing desks for a good reason. The simple task of standing up immediately increases your memory by 10% and your problem solving abilities by 30% by increasing oxygen flow to the brain. Rumour has it that some of the top execs have walking tracks in their offices, which they use to make and take phone calls. Wherever you are, get up and get moving.

4# Get Your 7 To 9: Scientists tell us that a lack of good quality sleep is one of the major factors that can lead to Alzheimers (the most common form of dementia) later in life, and unfortunately not so late too, as recently there have been cases of teenagers found to display the characteristics of the disease. You can also over eat by up to 29% by simply failing to get less than 7 hours of sleep! Get your 7 to 9 hours quality slumber every day.

5# Show Me Your Teeth!: Humour is the number one memory encoder, and one of the key attributes of a good leader. When you laugh 37 different chemical reactions occur inside your brain that make you feel good and make your brain default to “comfort” mode. Basically, laughing makes you feel better, and makes you cleverer too!

Feel more clear minded and focused already? More Brainaerobics tips coming up soon!

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Health and fitness was (still is) my passion and only talent I was aware of at the time. All of a sudden I found myself in a deep well, and seriously distraught.

What was I supposed to do?

I was almost 30 years old, with no career, no money, no health… no nothing.

I didn’t see a future.

I couldn’t afford to stop working at all, so I applied for temporary office work, and I don’t know how but I got a few jobs here and there, small cheques that barely covered the rent. I found myself asking friends for a tenner here and there so I could buy food.

My boyfriend at the time had broken up with me too. I was at an all time low.

A good friend suggested I went with him to a Life Enhancement weekend at the Irish Institute of NLP. I’d been reading a lot about personal development and NLP but had never taken a course, yet. I had practically zero money and remember making a small budget “right, If I eat just rice and veg this month I’ll be able to afford going to this course”. And so I did.

I came out walking on air. I still  remember the big smile on my face. Until then, I’d been feeling so down and negative that I thought there was something really wrong with me, that I had depression or something. After that course I was sure of one thing: there was nothing wrong with me. That was a huge relief.

I started getting more and more curious. I started reading and researching neuro-linguistics, neuroscience… anything to do with the brain and self-improvement. I was obsessed!

After the course, I landed a longer office contract and managed to save up some money. I invested it in another course.

Then I saved up some more. I invested in another course…

As time passed and I continued to put what I learnt into practice and inject more fun into my life I felt my confidence grow

I felt like myself again and felt excited about life for the first time in a long time. I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do career wise, but an uncertain future didn’t face me any more.

The next step in the NLP ladder was to take the coaching course, but I couldn’t afford it.

A friend – the boyfriend that had dumped me months before – offered to loan me the money.

It was a considerable amount of cash. I said I couldn’t possibly accept. He insisted. I said no. He insisted. I think he saw something in me that I wasn’t able to see at the time. Plus he’s one of the most generous people I’ve ever met – one of the many reasons why I ended up marrying him

I said I’d pay him back as much as I could every month. If I recall right it took me the best part of 8 months to repay him. In fact, I might still owe him some…!

I took the course. I did the homework, I applied myself. I put 100% of my focus (not an easy thing if you’re me and you’ve got the attention span of a fly) and energy into completing it and doing my very best at it. I hadn’t seen anything from start to finish since I’d dropped out of college aged 22, not even a book, so trust me when I say that completing that last course was a feat in itself for me.

But even on my last day of the course I still didn’t know whether I wanted to be a coach or not.

I didn’t know whether I’d be any good

One of the final tests consisted of an actual coaching session between me and another student, where we would be video recorded live.

I was totally petrified. Using the skills I’d learnt so far I put myself together and was able to go ahead with it, even though I clearly remember my legs feeling like jelly, and that it felt surreal, like a dream.

Until I was “awakened” by the applause of everyone in the room shouting “well done!”, “how did you do that?!” and “that was amazing!”

“Come again?” I thought “what’s happened here?!”.

At the time I had no idea what had happened. I was so nervous I couldn’t recall what had been said or done at all!

But I remember one thing very clearly to this very day; the applause, the facial expressions, and the heartfelt words of encouragement that were said to me that day.

After that, it still took a while before I decided to make of coaching my career. It took a bit (a lot) more work and a few more challenges. But now I realize that really I’d been a coach all along, and the trials and tribulations I went through to get to where I am today were just part of the journey I had to travel to become the best coach I could be.

Now, I often help people in similar situations to where I was all those years ago. I often get asked “What’s it gonna take Anna?”, “What does it take to make your life better?”.

My answer is: it takes what it takes

I certainly takes a huge desire to be better and do better. It takes inner strength, determination, discipline, and a lot of hard work. It takes blood, sweat and tears (hopefully take out the blood bit…). It takes constant and consistent awareness, mindfulness, thinking about who you want to be, what you want to be, do, learn, teach, have… thinking about what needs to be done and how you’re going to do it all the time, not just when you have some spare time. It takes creating opportunities, and grabbing opportunities when they present themselves.

If you really want to change your life for the better you need to wake up, pay attention, take action, take better action, strategise, plan, schedule…

Genius Alfred Einstein once said: thinking is hard, that’s why most people don’t do it.

Well, improving your life… it takes what it takes, and it’s hard, that’s why most people don’t do it, regardless of how unhappy they are.

But you’ve to start somewhere, and if you’re feeling as low as I once was it’s not easy sorting the bulls from the cows… if you get my drift (I totally just made that up by the way). So whilst it took me a while to figure things out, what I did know is that I’d had enough of feeling so down and negative all the time.

See, sometimes it doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you start by standing up, dusting yourself off, and asking yourself:

What have I had enough of?

The word “support” doesn’t get over 45,000.000 global monthly searches in Google for no reason at all.

I need help, you need help, we all need support in our lives.

Let me tell you a story that happened a few years ago…

Before I started coaching full time I used to work for an engineering company.

It paid the bills nicely every month, but by god, I hated every minute I spent in that place.

The thought of doing the same thing over and over again, day after day, for the rest of my life made me want to shoot myself.

I felt lifeless, like a robot. I woke up in the morning and cried at the thought of having to spend another day at the office.

I made it to 5pm, got home, and cried some more. This went on for the best part of 3 years…

One day, cuts were made and I was one of the staff made redundant. You’d think I’d be jumping off the walls with happiness!

I wasn’t. It suddenly downed on me that I wouldn’t see that regular and taken for granted cheque at the end of the month any more.

I though “crap, I need to get another job asap!”

My husband, who’d put up with my sob parties for month son end said to me “no you’re not, you’re coaching full time”

Until then I’d never considered coaching full time. I’d been coaching part time in the evenings and enjoying it. It brought in extra cash, but that was it.

At first I fought him “what do you mean coaching full time? We’ve bills to pay!”

“You’re not getting another job” he insisted “you’re a great coach, look at the feedback you’re getting! You’re coaching”. Let me tell you when my husband gets serious, he’s prrrretty scary!

But if it wasn’t for him, his vision and his support, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

He’s my angel and he’s hot!

I’d be stuck in an office crying my eyes out day in and day out, dreaming of a happier life, but not having the balls to do anything about it.

John is my angel. He’s a rare breed of people I now make sure to surround myself with.

In the past, I was surrounded by vampires; people who suck every ounce of positivity and hope from you. But I’ll tell you more about this on another post…

I count myself super lucky, because I know from talking to my coaching clients and friends that a lot of partners wouldn’t have done what he did for me.

I really believe that if it wasn’t for John’s unconditional support, generosity, and positive attitude I’d probably be dead right now.

No exaggeration here. I would’ve gone onto another office job and got more and more depressed until god knows what I would’ve ended up doing…

But he saw further than I was able to see at the time,

he saw something in me that I didn’t see at the time,

and he had the courage I didn’t have at the time.

So thanks to him now I live life on my terms (not that it hasn’t taken hard work and some tears), and support other people in building up the courage and confidence it takes to improve your life.

The people in your life can make you, or break you.

So, are you surrounded by vampires or angels?

Every year around this time of the year I start thinking about giving the house a spring clean.

I can’t bear to look at the dull looking curtains and carpets.

Carpets are like a giant filter; they capture dust, dirt, bacteria, pollen, dust mites, their waste…

Overtime carpets become saturated and ineffective. Even every day hoovering can’t kill bacteria that’s embedded in them.

This is why I like professional carpet cleaning. It’s been shown that professional cleaning gets carpets 1,500% cleaner than hoovering every day!

Amazing, right?

The steaming hot water professionals use kills germs and bacteria and brings original colors and brightness back to life.

Your brain is like a carpet; over time it gets clogged up with negative thoughts, limiting beliefs, fears, past experiences preventing you from living your present to the fullest, unuseful rules, other people’s stuff…

Mental germs that if left untreated can compromise your psychological well being and mental health.

Many people’s brains are like ticking bombs waiting to explode. Many feel like they’ve no control over their thoughts and emotions.

Chronic internal conflict can result in stress, anxiety, depression, and other more unfortunate conditions, a lot of them totally avoidable and preventable.

You just can’t let your lovely “carpet” turn into a dirty old rag and expect it to do its job.

Any attempts at positive thinking won’t last long, unless you give your brain a thorough professional cleaning now and again.

So when people ask me what I do for a living, I say:

I help transform your brain from a dirty old rag into a shiny red carpet!

If your life is not right it means your brain is not right 

Anna

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Whilst coaching a client who was single and looking for love, I asked her:

“So, what do you love about men?”

“What’s there to love, they’re all arseholes!” she quickly and confidently answered.

“All of them?” I asked “wow, you must’ve got around a bit…” to which she laughed (thank god).

“All the ones I’ve been with anyway” she clarified.

“Which thankfully leaves a few million good men off the hook, huh!” I said.

This woman, like many other single women and men, had without realizing it, committed one of the 7 deadly sins: she hated men, and then wondered why she always ended up with hateful men.

I also asked her if she’d ever let a man down, or hurt him.

She said yes, on a couple of occasions, but she really didn’t mean to hurt him.

I said “exactly, but you hurt him, so does that make you a bitch?”

My point is that we are not what we do. Sometimes we behave badly because we don’t know any better, or we get confused, or lose control of our brain or the situation… and that doesn’t automatically make us a bad person.

See, if you are single and finding it hard to find true and lasting love, judging potential partners based upon past experiences can be a deadly dating mistake; as are the following 7 deadly dating mistakes, that if not corrected could keep you single forever!

So, do you recognize any of these?

#1 You hate all men, or all women, and think they’re all the same

#2 You can’t think of any positive qualities the opposite sex displays – what’s there to like?

#3 You’re waiting for the perfect person to appear – The One

#4 You say that all you’re looking for is a nice person that can make you laugh

#5 You’re not able to list at least 3 physical and 3 personality traits you like about yourself

#6 You spend your free time with friends who are in relationships, hanging out at your local pub, club…

7# You refuse to go internet dating, speed dating, blind dating, or any other new way of connecting with the opposite sex

It’s not a lack of decent single people, or a lack of physical or personality virtues that’s kept you single. It’s your own limiting beliefs and rules you’ve set for yourself and the opposite sex; the deadly “if”s, “but”s and “must”s that could keep you single for ever.

So, what one thing can you let go of today that will help open your heart?

Sometimes We Can’t See Because Our Eyes Are Open,

Sometimes We Can’t Feel Because Our Hearts Are Closed

Happy Valentine’s!

Anna

PS: My client’s no longer single…

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Many years ago I suffered from what experts now call Anorexia and Bulimia.

At the time I didn’t know that’s what I was going through, and probably best, as whoever chose those ugly names didn’t help things.

If I was to start analyzing things, where it all stemmed from, how I “got it”, I’m sure I’d end up in a dark enough place. But I’m not going to do that, because what’s the point?

What I know is this:

As Humans We Think; We Think Too Much And It Often Gets Us Into Trouble

From a very young age I remember feeling feelings of jealousy and envy towards the females in my life; sisters, cousins, school friends… they were all, or at least they seemed, prettier and thinner than me.

I remember seeing my slimmer friends eating carrots and apples as snacks, whilst I’d be munching on a donut, and thinking “Hmmm, maybe if I…”. So I took it upon myself to make myself look like them.

By age 13 I’d joined a gym and started cutting off whole food groups from my diet: no milk, no bread, no meat… I did calisthenics classes 3 times a week with a bunch of “old” ladies in their forties, and decided to become a vegetarian.

Mum started to suspect something was wrong.

By the time I was 17, and at 5’5’’, I’d gone from a little chubby to under 7 stone. I was surviving on an apple a day, or a bunch of green beans, water, and post-lunch Stairmaster workout sessions wearing a plastic tracksuit.

If I ever felt a little weak I’d binge on chocolate pastries until I got sick, then starved and worked out like a lunatic again. I’d go running up and down hundreds of stairs, trekking up mountains, I even made up my own fitness blend: a mix of ballet and Jane Fonda style toning exercises.

I also became an expert at lying. I’d hide food in my mouth during lunch and then spit it out afterwards. I’d hide food in my clothes, or throw it out of the window… I never ate out with family and friends cos I had “already eaten”… By then I had a boyfriend with a roving eye that made me compare myself to other women even more. I couldn’t grow my boobs on demand, but I could certainly be thinner than them b*tches.

At The Time I Didn’t Know That Doing The Things I Was Doing Repeatedly And Over Time Would Develop Into Automatic Behaviours; Habits That Would Almost Kill Me

I didn’t know that the unconscious mind is non-discerning, and that whether a behavior is good or bad for you, if you do it enough times and build certain rituals around it, it might be real hard to get rid of it in the future.

I got to the point where I looked exactly the way I wanted to look; what I considered perfect. I’d lost everything that made me a woman; my boobs, my hips… people who knew me all my life didn’t recognize me on the street, some thought I was a boy.

There were things in my life I had no control over, but I’d succeeded at controlling my body. Finally I’d got it to look exactly how I wanted it to look.

However, I wasn’t able to climb a flight of stairs without getting out of breath. My blood pressure was so low I’d feel faint almost daily, especially in the morning, yet I’d refuse to have breakfast. My sight got blurry. I started to have panic attacks, and if I got out of the house and went past a certain imaginary point, I’d get really anxious and would have to rush back home. I lost my ability to think straight and retain information. Just before my last year college exams I had a massive panic attack and dropped out to never go back.

Still, I refused to let mum take me to the doctor.

One night in bed, I noticed my stomach was so concave you could fit a football on it. I couldn’t sleep cos I could hear my heart beating, so loud, and suddenly so fast…  I thought it was going to come out of my chest. It started to beat even faster, and I got real scared. I thought “oh my god, I’m going to die”.

My whole body was trembling as I got up and made it to the kitchen where I kneeled down crying, literally praying to a god I didn’t believe in “please help me, if you help me I’ll start eating properly again, I promise”.

I reached for the sugar bowl and had about 5 table spoonfuls of sugar. Still freaking out I went out to the balcony for some fresh air. I lied down and fell asleep.

Mum found me the following morning. I cried and said sorry for all the sleepless nights and worry I’d caused her for so long.

She hugged me and said “you’re my beautiful daughter, why did you do this to yourself?” I said “I just want to be thin”, and as I said it, for the first time ever I heard how ridiculous I sounded.

That Day I Gave Up Trying To Kill Myself And Started Loving Myself

To this day I work out regularly and eat healthily most of the time, because I want to, and because I know it’s good for me.

What I stopped doing is: comparing myself to other women, hating myself, hating other women, trying to please everybody, trying to be someone I’m not, making who I am about my looks only, and trying to achieve what I already am and always was: perfect.

It can be so easy to get into the trap I let myself into. It started with a small thing and snowballed to the size of a killer avalanche. But you don’t be a fool like me. You didn’t come to this world to be a slave to anyone, or anything.

Work out, eat, and set yourself free.

Anna

PS: It took time and effort to develop healthy eating habits and healthy thinking habits again. At the beginning it was uncomfortable. But all it takes is time, persistence, nurture, support, and looking in the mirror and sending yourself loving thoughts every day <3