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Emotions, Anxiety & Eat Smarter
I find our emotions and feelings fascinating yet perplexing at the same time…
Sometimes, we have the words to describe them. Other times, not.
Sometimes, the same emotion or feeling can be felt and experienced differently, not just by ourselves but by others as well.
It makes this whole area of our life rather open to interpretation and personal experience.
Is this a good thing?
Bad thing?
Who knows? 🤷♂️
A recent example of this, for me, comes in the form of nervousness…
I may or may not have shared and spoken about this before (I’m unsure if I have).
But recently, I’ve experienced the difference between nervousness, driven from anxiety, worry and apprehension and nervousness, driven from excitement and growth…
Dare I say the same feeling based on my current level of emotional intelligence and understanding my own emotions, but experienced very differently!
It’s the same word that explains both, but nervousness from anxiety, worry and apprehension feels restrictive and unpleasant…
Whereas nervousness from excitement and growth feels good and lifts me up.
So how can the same word on paper be used in both scenarios and be felt very different? 🤨
This is what I find fascinating yet perplexing at the same time.
So, what does this teach us?
I think it teaches us that understanding our emotions and feelings is not only a personal phenomenon of how we experience the world but that they can be used as a self-awareness tool to understand ourselves, to learn and to grow.
This is not an area I’m super knowledgeable about.
But I find it super interesting.
Furthermore, I’ve realised that nervousness driven from anxiety, worry, and apprehension has hardly ever, at least from what I can remember, led to anything good or productive.
Can you honestly say that it has for you?! 🤨
It reminds me of how I used to get told to worry because our worries don’t change the thing that we are worried about.
Yet worrying seems to be part of the human experience, so what do we do about this?
The advice of don’t worry or don’t feel anxious and let it go about this or that I oftentimes feel is too simplistic…
Especially for us, and I count myself in this category of people, easily, anxious, worried and nervous folks.
I don’t usually like labels; however, when we’re talking about personality traits, I’m coming more to the belief that there are those of us that are more anxious, worried and nervous about things than others…
And, like any trait, too much of it can potentially be an unhealthy thing!
I think this is most definitely true when we’re talking about this trait and related tendencies, and I’m realising more and more that it’s about learning to manage it in the best possible way and to not let it run the show.
Recently, I shared how action is the antidote to anxiety, and this is one strategy that I‘ve found to be powerful in managing this trait, especially when it’s running overboard and controlling us and our lives.
If you missed that edition,read it here now to go deeper.
Overall, I think it’s vital that we develop a strategy for learning how to deal with this tendency, especially as over anxious people.
I’m always on the lookout for new strategies that can help me manage this trait, and if you can relate, I would love to know what you do to keep your over-anxious traits and nervousness intact.
Reach me here. I would love to hear from you.
Reminders
Reminders and maxims to help you live your best life.
- Every ending is a start of a new beginning.
- We need to be reminded more than we need to be taught.
- Our actions, not our past, define who we are.
Recommendations
Recommended resources, brands, and tools to help navigate life.
Navigating health and life is sometimes hard.
It’s confusing, overwhelming and stressful.
That’s why I created this newsletter to help make it a little bit easier and a resource that I have come back to time and time again over the last year, and have given and recommended to family is theEatSmarter Family Cookbook by Shawn Stevenson.
When we talk about health, we have to talk about nutrition!
With all of the conflicting nutrition advice and lifestyles out there, nutrition is one of the biggest areas that I know and have found, like many people do, to be confusing, overwhelming and a challenge to navigate.
Like, what is a keto diet?
What is a paleo protocol?
Why are there so many hidden nasties in all of our foods?
And so the list goes on…
Since buying, reading and using the EatSmarter Family Cookbook as a guide for cooking healthy delicious meals, that the whole family love, while not missing out on taste or flavour or many of the favourite foods that we love to enjoy I have found, and in particular, a lot of my family, have found that they’ve not only made healthier choices but have reduced stress, overwhelm and anxiety in the process.
That’s because the EatSmarter Family Cookbook clearly lays out all of the ingredients that you need to make the recipes included in the book, splits recipes down by meal times (including healthy desserts 😋) and provides the healthiest options for each food category which I’ve found to be a game changer when shopping for food
For example, the book breaks down the healthiest sweeteners to aim for in a simple format (see below), from the smarter choice to the scary option and repeats this for cooking oils, meats, seafood, and grains in a simple and easy way to understand.
Furthermore, it does the same thing for what we should be, storing and cooking our food, which is often a big misunderstood area of health that the majority of people don’t realise and miss.
Sure, it’s something else to think about, but with the EatSmarter Family Cookbook, a lot, if not all, of the thinking is done for you!
Shout out to Shawn Stevenson and his team for putting this much-needed book together that we can all use to help navigate our health, especially when it comes to nutrition.
One of my favourite recipes from the book is the Bacon Quiche, which tastes amazing!! 🤤
And, you know, the book has also inspired me to create my own recipes using healthy ingredients recommended in the book itself.
You can get a copy of theEatSmarter Family Cookbook from all major bookstores as well as on Amazon.
Get yourself a copy, and I would love to know if you end up having a favourite recipe from the book.
Here’s to better health and nutrition!!
Until next week,
Luke
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