Eating, drinking, overthinking

This book, by Susan Nolen-Hoeksema was about how many women get caught in a 'toxic triangle.' It really resonsated with me, the idea was that from childhood, we get told not to feel negative emotions 'if you can't say anything nice, say nothing' and taught to dwell on emotional issues with well-meaning questions about whether you want to talk about it.

According to her theory, whilst little boys are taught to do something practical about problems, little girls mustn't fight back. As adults we worry about perceived slights and endlessly dwell on things we've said or done. This makes us unhappy and we then eat or drink to avoid the horrible thoughts. It leads to this 'toxic triangle' and low level depression. Tackling one aspect isn't enough, you need to unpick all three issues.

It made quite a lot of sense to me. I personally am awful at 'worrying' at something I know i've done wrong, blowing it out of proportion, wanting to talk about the same thing again and again. It annoys me that I do it, but I find it hard to stop.

In fact, last night, I was doing exactly this, lying in bed, thinking about yesterday and where I went wrong, analysing what I could have done instead, worrying about today and so on.

She suggests 'mindfulness' techniques and relaxation as methods to let go of this negativity, which is why I thought I might try meditation. It also recommended journaling. To be honest an awful lot was exactly what I'm doing to try to achieve normal or intuitive eating.

Anyway, if you think this is that this is a problem in your life, the book is quite good. There were some practical solutions for changing, but I'm not sure how effective they'll be.