Off the Wagon

So I know I swore off self-help stuff. But I had already gotten this new book on tape in the mail so after a couple weeks I caved. And I’m SO GLAD I did!

This is a book that I think every woman should read (and maybe every guy who’s trying to understand the woman in his life). It’s another Geneen Roth book called “Women, Food & God.” Holy cow. It’s like she’s in my head and wrote this book just for me. Except that as I blog and talk more to people I realize that we all pretty much have the same issues, just to different degrees. So she’s in all of our heads.

To make it clear how much this impacted me, before I even finished the book on tape I ran out and bought the actual book so I can highlight excerpts and mark pages – it’s THAT amazing. I know I sound like a stepford wife here, but let me try to put some intelligent thoughts behind my enthusiasm.

The thing about this book is that though its mainly written with an eye towards eating disorders and food issues, it’s about so much more than that. You can substitute any behavior that you use to distract yourself from the core issues at hand, and the book will make perfect sense. Whether its food, alcohol, drugs, sex, work, smoking – anything that you obsess over – she makes you see how to (rather easily) shift your focus to the real issue at hand, whatever that is for you. And more importantly, she makes you realize that often, all your efforts towards changing your behaviors through deprivation and rule-following often only contributes to the problem. It’s not about fixing yourself. Its about loving yourself as you are, and in doing so you’ll naturally shift to balanced behaviors. If you’re trying to fix yourself through programs, deprivation, control, whatever, you’re basically sending messages that you’re not ok the way you are.

What a concept! A bit basic, but sometimes the most obvious points are the ones missed. At least by me. So go buy this book or book on tape. And I’d LOVE to hear if you get as much from it as I am!