Boy, my stay in Calgary to get my Belgian Malinois, Hazel, certified for detection work, took some turns for the worse.

First, I found the contents of a woman’s purse scattered all over the sidewalk, as if someone had stolen her purse, dumped everything out, and left the stuff they didn’t want to steal. (I found her house and returned the contents to her).

Well, a couple days later, the main house on the property of the Airbnb I’m staying at was burglarized.

A LOT of stuff was stolen (again, from the main house, not the room I was staying in, by some miracle).

(Thankfully, no one was hurt, though I feel really bad for the homeowners.)

On the day I was supposed to leave, Delta up and CANCELED my flight out of the country.

Just poof, your flight’s canceled, have a nice day.

🤦‍♀️

The next flight to Boise from Calgary wasn’t until three days later.

But your girl, here, has a full day of stuff to do on the day another flight was finally available!

I researched flights on other airlines, but I had to be careful because I was traveling with Hazel. She’s cleared to fly with Delta, but I wasn’t sure if other airlines would let her fly on such short notice, so I was scrambling to figure it all out.

And not surprisingly, while all this was going on, there was a part of me that wanted to eat my body weight in junk to cope with the stress of a last-minute flight cancellation while I was out of the country with my service dog.

But here’s the thing about coping.

If you expect to get or keep the weight off, the way you cope with life’s challenges HAS to change. 

I know it seems like food is the only thing that helps. I’ve gone that route, too, so I get it.

AND I’ve learned the hard way that when you resort to coping with food, you do more than derail your health goals.

You derail your self-trust. You derail your belief that getting and keeping the weight off is possible for you. You derail your forward momentum.

We’re conditioned to turn to food for every little thing, so I get that this is hard.

Start by taking a look at what else brings you joy and people you can talk to.

When you need to cope, do something else you enjoy that ISN’T food.

You can also text, call, or message a friend and tell them, “I’m wanting to go facedown in junk food, here. Can you talk me off the ledge?”

Getting to the root of why you’re upset is an important step, too…one that’s best to do when you’re not in the middle of whatever’s upsetting you.

When you’re IN the middle of something stressful or upsetting, turn to something positive that can help you manage, whether that’s a joyful activity or a friend or loved one who knows how to listen and console you.

You CAN do this!