How was your guys’ weekend? I had a rather blissful one! It was relaxed and not over scheduled and allowed me time to catch up on some much needed R&R. The weather was so great, too which made taking in walks along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade and a Sunday street fair pretty perfect.

The relaxed weekend was in particular necessary order because of how I’ve been feeling the past few weeks, to be honest.

We all do it, right? We have those days, weeks, months where we’re just not feeling great about ourselves. And man have I been suffering from those feelings. Truth be told, I’ve had a serious case of negative self talk happening of recent.

It started when I was traveling the other week and two things I had packed in my suitcase, upon trying to put them on, just really didn’t fit the way they used to. Yikes! It was a wake up call that I had been letting myself go too much in between two weeks in France, my move and various all-too-regular indulgences.

By the time I got back to New York after this trip, the voices in my head were non-stop telling myself I had gained too much weight, that I was too bloated, too tired, my face was too fat, my dark circles were too big…you name it. I was insulting myself with a constant stream of negative self talk.

It had been a while since I had experienced such a severe case of this type of putting myself down but I also knew I couldn’t make insane, unrealistic all-at-once changes to get back on track. I had to start small. I had to be purposeful but realistic. And I had to begin giving myself positive affirmation vs. constant negative affirmation. The negative self talk had crept in so badly that it was affecting my energy and productivity.

So what did I do to tackle this negative self talk?

• I increased my ClassPass membership to 10 classes for the month (vs. 5) and started booking classes so I could get back to my usual goal of 4-5 workouts/week. I also went for a run, a walk, got back to doing arm exercises at home and met friends for workouts instead of cocktails.
• I said “no” to alcohol and sweets Monday through Thursday. No more casual croissants or random glasses of wine for the time being.
• I also tried to limit the amount of carbs/gluten I was eating.
• I put my scale away after my initial weigh-in. I knew obsessing was only going to make my mental state more fragile.
• I got back into my routines. I got back to my nighttime sleep rituals, got my skincare routine back on track, started taking my vitamins again daily and forced myself to begin drinking more water during the day.
• I re-focused during my workouts. Instead of allowing myself excuses during classes, I prioritized staying focused and pushing myself. I told myself during these workouts: I am good enough, I am strong enough, I am enough.
• I started trying to better listen to my body and how it was reacting to certain foods and workouts.
• I got back to meditating. (More on that here.)

I know times like these are inevitable. None of us are perfect and sometimes we do let ourselves go and don’t realize it until it catches up with us. But I also recognized that I could tackle the negative self talk by reinforcing positive self endorsement. Telling myself I was going to feel better soon, get myself back into shape and reignite my focus and my energy on wellness. As a result, I can already tell a difference in the way I am taking on each day and the decisions – event the tiniest of ones – that I’m making throughout each day.

How do you guys handle feeling down about yourself? I’d love to hear any tips!

Shop the Post:

Top ($50! I’m wearing a size 10) // Jeans // Shoes // Bag // BaubleBar Earrings (c/o) // Sunglasses // Giles & Brother Personalized Stirrup Cuff (c/o) // iPhone case // NARS Powermatte Lip Pigment in ‘Get Up Stand Up’

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p.s. Thoughts on being self conscious and 32 things you may not know about me.

[Bekka Palmer Photography]