Katie on her blog, Eat4Today, wrote a post called "Working with a 300 pound gorilla," which was in reference to a comment I made on one of her other posts about procrastination. My comment read:
"Glanced at the Hacker’s Diet real quickly, and intended to dive in later. But reading this post today, the procrastination, I realized, is related to me struggling with the commitment (dropping weight). My left brain knows what I need to do. THE LB is always a team player. That is never the issue. It’s the emotions. The emotions are like a 300 pound gorilla next to a 130 pound logical girl. The gorilla starts throwing her weight around and then I’m whacked. How do I get the gorilla to be a team player?"
Katie brought out this question to the forefront because it is a common issue that many people experience in their weight dropping programs. Her suggestion was that instead of imagining my emotions as a 300 pound gorilla, I imagine her as a toddler someone much smaller than myself. This way I feel bigger. She is right in that we are always the boss in our lives, and that we are the ones ultimately in charge. I let the gorilla push me around almost always when it comes to weight management. If the gorilla wants a McDonald's Big Mac, and I don't give it to her, she will go on a rampage until ultimately, I give in. I always give in to the gorilla because she's bigger, meaner, and physically stronger than me.
I did like the toddler idea, however, as I started to write my comment, thoughts started to flooded my brain. Katie was giving me the idea to physically change the gorilla into something smaller like a toddler. Then it dawned on me. Instead of changing my emotions into something else, why not just let it be who it is, and change myself instead. Goes to that lesson that we can never change other people, but we can always change ourselves.
So, I decided to leave the emotions a gorilla and turn myself into a 50 ft woman. Now, I am literally the bigger one, and the gorilla now looks like a pet next to me. If she gets out of control, I can literally pick her up by the collar and tell her to behave. What's she going to do that I can't stomp on? My size now humbles her. As well, symbolically, it shows that I am literally growing out of my debilatating pattern. I am choosing to be a bigger person, and choosing to live a bigger life literally. Makes me feel empowered.
My roommates and I, in college, had this Attack of the 50ft woman poster hanging in our livingroom. We got it because it reminded us of how powerful a woman could be. Who's going to mess with ANYONE 50 ft tall?
It's a good technique to use too when you're one of the few women in an all male field like tech, Wall street, law firms etc. I know that there are times when the guys make me feel small, or namely I let them make me feel small. But if you're in the same pickle, why not picture yourself as 50 ft tall and see just how scary those guys seem now. Not very scary anymore, busters. And heaven forbid, can you imagine what would happen if they angered the 50ft woman. Wow! Ain't that an awesome thought.
