The Next Time Someone Puts Down Your Eating

If you’re gearing up for a holiday dinner and feeling a certain kind of way about, read on. 

Maybe you’re nervous about people looking at your food like it’s an alien on a plate. Maybe you’re not stoked to explain, for the umpteenth time, why you’re not putting meat in your mouth. 

Maybe you’re not excited about your great uncle Fred, who is currently on 16 different medications, preaching to you about the importance of protein and how you need to get it from meat. All of us plant-based eaters have been there. Right in the spotlight at the dinner table because of what we choose to put in our beautiful mouths. 

First things first, your circumstances do not make you happy or unhappy, frustrated or content, angry or calm. 

Your thoughts about your circumstances create your feelings. Always. 

Molly Patrick

Here’s an example:

Let’s say you’re trying to eat more plant based, and your cousin, Brandon, always has something snarky to say about it. It might be easy to think Brandon hurt your feelings. 

But Brandon didn’t hurt your feelings. 

Your feelings were hurt because, after Brandon came with the snark, your brain created thoughts. Those thoughts reinforced a belief you have about yourself that you don’t like, aren’t yet comfortable with, or are judging yourself for. 

Maybe you made his words mean you’re strange, and you have a belief that being strange is bad. 

Maybe you made his words mean you’ll never be accepted by your family, and you really want to be accepted.  

Maybe you made them mean you don’t fit in, and that’s a problem. 

Your human brain made Brandon’s words mean something about you. Nothing has gone wrong, this is what human brains do.

Maybe some of these thoughts or beliefs are true for you. Maybe they aren’t. Maybe they’re beliefs you didn’t even know you had. This is juicy stuff to get curious about, but here’s the takeaway for today:  

When you believe someone else is the reason for your feelings, you hand them your power 

Don’t do that. Your power is yours. Use it to fuel, uplift, and guide your life, don’t give it away to anyone else. 

Brandon can say whatever the duck he wants, then you get to decide what you make it mean. 

• Maybe you make it mean you deserve to hang out with people who are kind to you.  
• Maybe you make it mean Brandon’s social skills aren’t great.  
• Maybe you make it mean Brandon might be right, and that’s okay. 
• Maybe you make it mean absolutely nothing, and you continue eating your Chickpea Tuna Sandwich with a big-ass grin on your face. 

No one else in this big beautiful world gets to dictate how you feel 

That is 100% up to you. 

When you know this truth, it doesn’t matter what anyone says about how you live your life, including what you put in that luscious mouth of yours. You will stand firmly rooted in your truth, your power, and your decisions without so much as a flinch. 

If you want help taking back your power, join me for my Plant Fueled Reset, where you’ll kick off 2023 with a month of nourishing your body and mind while setting a solid foundation for the rest of your life.