"How can I best take care of myself right now?

Our thoughts are often an overlooked part of behavior change and our health journey.

These last few days have been a rollercoaster of emotions in our household. One of our beloved cats, Diva, has started showing the impact of her kidney disease. Diva has been in my life for 17 years. She has lived through my wild 20s, eight moves, relationships, college - and so many more pivotal moments in my life. She has become my husband's sweet little companion - always greeting him at the door and wanting to be near him. The thought of losing her, although I know is inevitable, was devastating.

My emotions were all over the place and all I kept thinking was, "How can I best take care of myself right now?"

In the past, feelings of sadness and overwhelm used to have me reaching for the one thing I could control - my food intake. My biggest coping mechanism was utilizing whatever I had in my pantry, and I would be lying if I claimed these thoughts didn't pass through my head.

Only this time rather than acting on them, I asked myself: "How can I best take care of myself right now?" And almost always, the answer was: feel the emotions. Cry. Spend time giving her love and attention. Take her with you while you move your body.

Asking myself such a seemingly simple question opened up a door to other coping mechanisms - other options I had that would help me move through the emotions versus trying to cover it up. Was an option still food? Of course. But giving myself that pause - some autonomy to decide how I wanted to wade through my emotions - was powerful.

Our thoughts impact how we experience life's challenges and when we can shift from reacting on autopilot to giving ourselves a moment of pause where we question our needs, we provide an opportunity to get curious and create space between the emotion and the action.

When we stop being on autopilot, we ultimately empower ourselves to cope in ways that truly serve us.

Allyson