Gratitude And Why Being Thin Won’t Make You Happy

I was scrolling through facebook earlier this week when I saw a post by Geneen Roth. I am not sure if you know who Geneen Roth is or not but she’s a wonderful Eating Disorder author/facilitator/speaker who wrote the book Women Food and God. If you haven’t read it I highly recommend it. In her post Geneen wrote

“If being rich made people happy, all rich people would be happy. If being thin made people happy, all thin people would be ecstatic.

And although we’ve all read the stories of the lottery winners who are abjectly miserable, the rich and very thin celebrities who alternate between making movies, taking drugs, and being in rehab, we persist in the myth that more money and less weight leads to more happiness.

And although most of us weren’t over-the-moon happy when we lost weight those previous ten or twenty or dozen times or when we had more money than we have now, we keep the myth alive as if the alternative—not putting our lives on hold and living here, now, in this moment with all that we have and don’t have—is intolerable.“

I think she makes a really good point here. We too often put off accepting where we are at now and ignore what genuinely makes us happy for this pursuit of what we tell ourselves we need to be happy. The sad part is that we do put our lives on hold as Geneen mentions. We ignore or fail to see what is taking place in our lives in this very moment that can bring us joy and leave us feeling fulfilled. Instead we focus on what is wrong with us, how we aren’t good enough and what is lacking.

I think it is time to really look at this in your own life and see how or if you are convincing yourself that a certain weight or body is what will make you happy.

If so, instead of focusing on the “If Only’s” in life, spend some time reflecting on where you are today, what genuinely brings you joy and what you already have. Don’t confuse joy with numbing. Instead think of those moments where you laughed til your stomach hurt, or those days where your heart feels full and your soul fed. Those are moments of happiness.

Leave a comment in the section below sharing what you are grateful for today.