I was left feeling listless, flat and hopeless as I switched off the radio news bulletin.
Phrases from the broadcast replayed in my mind: second spike… hospital cases rising… more lockdown measures… and Brexit! Just typing these words causes my brow to furrow and my posture to slump. My mood becomes morose and my thoughts spin off into endless ‘what ifs’…
In a café at the weekend, I heard an animated conversation at the next table. A mother was recounting the time she allowed her son to eat as much chocolate as he wanted. Unsurprisingly, she explained that he complained of feeling sick before the end of the day. But, as I listened, she went on to praise the way he was now able to listen to the feelings in his body and was able to self-regulate his sugar intake; he recognised which foods made him feel good and which did not.
It got me thinking about my diet. In recent weeks, I have found myself in the kitchen at 7am, 1pm and 6pm, almost religiously. I often leave feeling flat, despondent and on occasions angry. These are not healthy feelings, especially when I am consuming them 3 times a day.
It is not the food that I am preparing that seems to be the problem, but it is radio news bulletins that I am listening to every time I am in the kitchen. I feel a compulsion to listen, to be up to date with what I should and shouldn’t be doing, in order to be a good citizen.
Perhaps, 3 times a day is a bit excessive! Maybe I should follow the young boy’s example and only consume as much as I can stomach and learn when to stop.