It’s the thing that almost always creates a fall and requires far too long for recovery. You’ve likely NO doubt about what it is even if you don’t like to admit it. Is it food for you? Or is it a habit or behavior that trips you? January seems to be the time we try to balance, recover, and set forth good habits, but that’s not the only time we struggle, is it?
When I switched to a ketogenic nutrition plan three years ago, I stopped eating certain foods like sugar, grains, and peanut butter, and it worked very well for me. I tried to reintroduce and manage portion control with these foods. Although I loved them, they affected my mood as much as my body, so I extracted them again. I have to manage my Kryptonite foods.
Is It Just Food?
Yet, it’s not only food that affects me. Some behaviors I’ve collected along the way don’t help me, and I’m better not giving in to that temptation either.
We all have stories from our past. As a counselor, I hear many, but I also tell my share. When the stories serve only to reconnect us with the sad feelings, it can keep us stuck. Perhaps you’re better than I at shifting out of that gear and focusing on what you’ve learned from the experience, but I found myself too often restarting a Kryptonite-like downward spiral of questioning my value, just like I felt at the time.
Create Rules that Benefit Your Goals
One of the rules I’ve given myself is that I can only tell stories from my past to benefit someone else — to connect with them, as a metaphor, to add some therapeutic value, to illustrate learning and growth. That eliminates selfish (and unhelpful) reasons for sharing stories. I’m amazed at how much better I feel when I don’t focus on what I’ve done wrong or what might have been wrong with me. I know. Shocker, right?
Yet, I’m betting I’m not alone. We tend to live with our Kryptonite. Rather than running as fast as we can in the opposite direction, we re-examine and wonder if it might affect us this time or whether we might have grown strong enough to handle it. We tempt ourselves, and often we do so without appropriate safeguards.
Tools for Growing Into Control
So far, I’m better leaving it out of sight or eliminating it from my environment, making rules for myself, and allowing a friend to hold me accountable to my goals for growth.
What tools might help you manage or eliminate your Kryptonite? How can you move toward your goals? Who might you allow to hold you accountable?
