The Shift to Stop Feeling Out of Control: Reclaiming Your Personal Power
As a non-diet nutritionist and certified intuitive eating counselor, I’ve seen many women struggle with feeling out of control. This is especially true when transitioning from restrictive dieting to intuitive eating. Today, I want to share a powerful shift that can help you stop feeling out of control and reclaim your personal power.
Understanding the Fear Behind Feeling Out of Control
When clients tell me they feel out of control, I hear fear. They’re afraid because they’re becoming a new version of themselves. This transition period between old habits and new ways of living can be uncomfortable.
Society values control, particularly for women. We’re sold the idea that we need to control our food, weight, beauty, and aging. It’s no wonder we feel lost when we let go of these external rules.
The Problem with Control
Control is about dictating or predicting an outcome. It’s driven by fear and anxiety. The long-term consequence of exerting control is a loss of faith in yourself. This is particularly true in diet culture, where the intention is for you to lose trust in your body’s ability to manage itself.
The Shift: From Control to Personal Power
The solution to feeling out of control isn’t more control. It’s building personal power. Personal power is about having a heightened level of self-trust. It’s trusting in your ability to have your own back, feed yourself, and create what you need in life.
Building Trust
Trust isn’t a switch you flip on and off. It’s more like a dial that you gradually turn up. To build trust:
1. Stop leaning on external guidelines
2. Practice listening to your body’s hunger and fullness cues
3. Make food choices based on what you need, not what a diet plan says
This process can be uncomfortable at first. That’s why having a coach or support system can be helpful.
Creating Safety
Many of us have learned that safety comes from compliance – following diet rules, achieving certain grades, or meeting beauty standards. To build personal power, we need to create our own sense of safety.
Mental Safety
– Notice how you talk to yourself when things don’t go as planned
– Practice self-compassion instead of self-blame
Emotional Safety
– Learn to sit with uncomfortable emotions
– Develop healthy coping mechanisms that don’t involve food or control
Physical Safety
– Feed yourself when you’re hungry
– Wear clothes that fit and feel comfortable
– Move your body in ways that feel good, not punishing
The Impact of Personal Power
When you’re in a heightened state of personal power, the need to control naturally releases. You no longer need to lean on external factors to feel safe. Instead, you trust in your innate wisdom and capacity to find solutions.
Personal Power and Collective Change
While we need collective action to address issues like weight stigma and diet culture, it starts with individual empowerment. Before we can effectively advocate for change, we need to build our personal power.
As a coach, I see my work as a form of activism. By helping individuals build their personal power, I’m contributing to the collective work of liberation.
Conclusion: Embracing the Shift
Remember, you don’t need to work on feeling out of control directly. Focus on building trust and safety. As you do this, the fear around lack of control will naturally dissolve.
What You’ll Learn in This Podcast Episode:
- Why feeling out of control is often rooted in fear
- How to shift from external control to personal power
- Practical ways to build self-trust and create safety
- The connection between personal power and collective change
By embracing this shift, you can stop feeling out of control and start trusting yourself. It’s a powerful step towards true wellbeing and liberation from diet culture.
Mentioned in the show:
