Hello 👋,
I have Autism and anxiety. I’m also on Pregablin and Olanzapine.
I have a terrible overeating problem and cravings for sweets and chocolate, etc. I will say things like “I want some extra treats tonight”, “I feel like having a challenging day today (as my doctor said to put it)” and (especially in the past) “I feel like having a bad day today (as in a bad eating day)” and “I want to pig out today” to my mum, who really stresses and tries her hardest to stop me from overeating and putting on more and more weight. She can see the damage it’s doing to my body and can get pretty stressed about it, which has a negative effect on my emotions and mental health.
I try so, so hard to be good. I want so, so, so, so much to always look after myself as well as I can. I draw posters with the quote “Always look after yourself as well as you can” and try so, so hard to live by this, but my anxiety and cravings for the pleasure that comes with eating and the experiences that go with it come in and sabotage my efforts and will, having a very negative effect on my mental health. I so, so, so want to do much better self-care, but thoughts like “you’ve never succeeded in sticking with your better self-care permanently, so why should this work this time?”, “You never succeed, nothing’s different, so why bother?” and “It’s too hard, you can’t do it.” I try so, so, so, so, so hard and want so, so, so, so, so much to do so, so much better self-care, but my anxiety and desire for indulgence always sabotage my efforts, as does my anxiety about it being too hard on me.
I’ve heard about making smaller changes and having more manageable goals, but it washes over me as I so, so, so, so want to do better self-care all around.
I want to achieve so, so, so much more in my life. I ask for a lot of reassurance, as well as permission from my mum to indulge. Do you think I should always take the best care of myself that I can? What can you suggest to help me get past all of this and achieve the better self-care that I so desire?
Please help asap.
Thank you 😊 so much.
Best Wishes to all,
Rory.
Have the best day and night ever!