Behind the Shiny Veneer

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great start to your week! In case you missed out, here are my weekend posts:

I made up a great full-body 30 minute circuit,

I raved about normal people weekends,

Aaaand, I announced that I'm fundraising for Girls on the Run for the Chicago Marathon!

Today, however, I wanted to talk about a topic that's been on my mind for a quite a while, I just haven't been sure of how to write about it. I realize, being a reader of many blogs myself, that we often put bloggers up on a pedestal. Most of what I write about is the good stuff: the good food, fun things going on in my life, my workouts and runs. However, I tend to not write as much about the bad stuff. I mean come on, who wants to read a depressing blog? However, because of that, I think a lot of people might assume that my life is great and perfect and I've got it all together, which is so NOT the truth!

I mean yes, I've got a ton of great things going on for me, but I'm not perfect, no one is!  I started this blog as a way to reach out to other women around my age and help them realize that they aren't alone in their problems. I first started blogging after I read Tina's blog, Carrots N Cake, and then her book. Her blog and book made a huge impact on my idea of healthy eating and I went from eating everything low-calorie and sugar-free to eating real foods and letting things carbs and fats *gasp* back into my life. I wanted to reach out and hopefully help others in the same way that Tina, and other bloggers, helped me.

However, over the past few months there's something I haven't really shared with you all, mostly because I'm embarrassed. But I've realized recently, especially by looking at a few new-to-me blogs, that I am one of many in my struggle with emotional/binge eating. I eat to avoid dealing with emotions and anxiety, but it's clearly not a healthy coping mechanism! I've actually gained some weight since Christmas break, which makes me feel worse about myself (although realistically I'm at a perfectly healthy weight), which just fuels the emotional eating even further. A lot of us deal with boredom eating and occasional emotional eating, but for me it became an every day kind of thing, rather than an ever once in a while kind of thing.

Although I'm not one to air my dirty laundry in public, I knew I wasn't being true to the spirit of my blog if I wasn't sharing this with all of you! I wanted to let you all know that this is something I am dealing with because I recently read an article written by a woman who had a very similar issue and it made me feel SO MUCH BETTER to know I wasn't alone! I also reached out to a couple blogger friends who've dealt with similar issues and they've been amazing too.  The key here is that I am not alone. And YOU are not alone. No matter what is bothering you at this point in your life, I guarantee you other people can relate.

Have you ever struggled with something and felt like you were alone?

Who do you always call when you need advice?