Am I obsessing (again)? Or is this healthy?

3 minute read | Am I obsessing? Thoughts on how I decided the difference between obsessing and living healthy.

I have been crushing the Nourish 30 Challenge. Honestly, I didn't really believe I could. I just believed you could. It's one of my greatest downfalls (it might also be part of being an enneagram two), doing this work for you while neglecting to believe it for myself.

But this summer, I committed to doing the work for myself. If I am honest, I'm feeling great. Yes, I have bad days occasionally. Two weeks ago, I had a meltdown about what to wear to church.

Bad days are part of being human.

But, overall, I'm pretty pumped about the changes I've made and the outcomes I've experienced.

I want to celebrate feeling different and use that to stay consistent in making changes. But I also want to keep myself in check because I recognize the slippery slope from living healthy to obsessing about health.

I've been there, and I have no intention of going back.

However, understanding the difference between the two is the only way to avoid falling into the trap of obsessing.

Where is the line?

There is no line.

I know. I asked a question with no answer.

Only because we all would love a line—a distinguished, hard, and fast rule one can follow. Unfortunately, like most health issues, it's not that black and white, and yet, surprisingly, it's not all that complicated either.

I’ve realized the difference between health and obsessing is not a line but a direction. You're either moving toward health or moving toward obsession.

The direction of movement is determined based on your security (health) or lack of security (obsession).

I've said it before, and I'll continue to say it: health is a metric of safety.

Biologically speaking, it makes sense why one would start to obsess when they feel unsafe. Because the need for safety is so great, your biology will shift your mind to obsess about what it thinks it needs to return to safety.

You can't always help an obsession. But you must understand it to get yourself out of it.

You will begin to obsess about health because you feel unsafe. Proving the difference between health and obsession: how safe you feel inside your body.

• Obsession comes from a lack. It brings the scarcity mindset.

• Health comes from support. It brings an abundance mindset.

Or more easily understood:

• Obsession is about fixing.

• Health is about filling.

A few weeks ago, I had to check myself here. I was so excited about the changes I've been experiencing but even more excited that I had stuck with my commitment. And then, my insecurity started to show itself, making me question if my actions were a form of obsession.

The literal fear of obsession made me begin to obsess.

My insecurity made me feel bad about the work I had done, beginning a spiral of shaming myself for seeking health.

Oh, the irony.

The worst part is that the spiral just keeps spiraling. The insecurity leads to action that I want to believe will overcome the lack, but it only tends to magnify my problems. Ultimately, it leads me to need more, something different, something I can cling to to make me feel safe, which results in obsession.

It happens fast, and it's slippery when you land there. But it only happens because we live teetering on the threshold of insecurity.

We let the fear override our success.

We let our doubt diminish our strengths.

We hold so tightly to problems that we can't see the solution.

And we let the fear of obsessing be the catalyst to begin obsessing.

This leads me to wonder if we all just need to take a deep breath and recognize we don't need to fear obsession or run so far from it that we do nothing at all.

We need to focus less on the fear of obsession and more on the wins of healthy action.

Fear Less < Live More

In all reality, health requires a bit of obsession—not in a way that distracts you from living. But health takes work.

The problem isn't the obsession.

It's what you do with it and how you use it—is it helping you or hurting you?

I don't want the fear of the obsession to stop you from creating health.

At the same time, I don't want you to obsess so much about health that it stops you from living.

There is a middle ground. It's not a hard and fast rule or a black-and-white line. It's a daily choice that checks your motive while choosing to take action.

Remember, health isn't about fixing you. It's about filling yourself up. Health is supporting your body with the tools it needs to thrive.

I say this all as I have some pretty big health tips coming to you on Friday. I know you don’t need more things to worry about but remember, health still takes work, and that is still different than obsessing.

It’s all perspective.

Do you find yourself worried you might be obsessing?