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Labor Day weekend in the U.S. is the kind of holiday that can be full of picnics, potlucks, barbecues, and short getaways, which means lots of opportunities for food to take center stage. And sometimes, in the middle of all that, we stop taking care of ourselves as we should.

A little wobble can become a bigger one. We may get through the weekend, only to find ourselves struggling even more afterwards. I want to look at three ways we risk losing ourselves at events like these, and what it looks like to stay aligned with our food plan instead.

1. We Don’t Plan and Prepare Enough
   An all-day picnic can become a food disaster if we assume there will be something there for us to eat. There may not be. I made a commitment long ago to bring my own food to gatherings like these. When my meal is handled properly—weighed, measured, delicious, and exactly what I want to be eating—I’m actually more available to enjoy the people and activities around me. I’m not spending hours staring at the buffet and trying to figure out what I can eat. My food is taken care of, so I’m free to be present to all the wonderful joys around me.
2. We Put Other People’s Feelings Ahead of Our Own Well-being
   Maybe we don’t want to embarrass our spouse, disappoint the mother-in-law who baked something especially for us, or be the person who shows up carrying Tupperware. I often use the peanut-allergy metaphor here. If eating a peanut butter cookie would send you into anaphylactic shock, somebody else’s disappointment wouldn’t determine whether you ate it. When we become deeply clear about what maintaining our Bright Lines means to our happiness and flourishing, we can find the courage to let other people have their reactions. I know this from 23 years of doing it myself: we can love people without making ourselves responsible for regulating their emotions.
3. We Let the Food Take Up Too Much Space in Our Minds
   Sometimes we make it through the event without breaking our Bright Lines, but we’ve spent the entire weekend looking at the food and thinking about it. That can leave us vulnerable to PECS—post-event collapse syndrome—when the food thoughts come roaring back afterwards. For me, the answer is a strong mental boundary. The moment food starts looking enticing, I use my mantra: “Thank you, God, that’s not my food. That’s POISON to me.” Then I turn my attention somewhere else. The goal isn’t merely to get through the event without eating the food; it’s to keep it from taking root in my mind.

Becoming Resourced from the Inside

Underneath all three of these is something deeper: inner alignment. Planning ahead, saying “no thank you” with grace, and shutting down food thoughts all become easier when we’re clear, peaceful, and well-resourced inside.

That kind of inner peace takes work. In fact, one of the things we often discover as we continue on our journey is that staying Bright eventually asks us to do deeper inner work, to help resolve the conflicts that keep us from taking good care of ourselves.

Learn More at Our Upcoming Webinar

That’s exactly what I’ll be talking about in my upcoming free live webinar Finding Peace Within: The Power of Becoming Resourced. I’ll share the three-step process I use, along with what I’ve learned from more than 30 years of doing this inner work myself. There will be two live sessions and no recording, so if this speaks to you, use the link below to register and join me.

Click here to register for the free webinar.