Let the monsters ride the bus!

[NarcKiddo]

Yesterday I came across a tool I know I will find really useful so I wanted to share.

In case you want to check out more, it came via Josh Hillis who works with GMB Fitness and was in an article about how to manage food cravings. Bear with me...

It seems to me food cravings can be likened to negative emotions, in that they usually appear at times you are vulnerable to them, they are hard to deal with and they can really derail progress towards our goal. This is a tool which helps acknowledge, sit with and examine the unwelcome intruder until it goes again.

The idea is that you imagine you are a bus driver. Your job is to drive the bus safely.

Your bus route passes through areas where nice people live, but it also passes through areas where monsters live. The monsters represent the cravings/unwelcome emotions. The nice people and the monsters all use the bus. You probably have some idea of what passengers regularly use your route but you cannot predict with certainty what will happen on any given day.

You don't like having the monsters on the bus but the monsters have valid tickets. If you are like me, you may in the past have refused entry to the monsters regardless of their ticket status. In my experience, the monsters refused entry tend to go and find a load of their friends and then storm onto the bus anyway, waving their tickets in your face. By now they are in no mood to sit quietly and they make an awful rumpus. You might have to stop the bus. You might even have to call management for help. None of this enhances your day.

So the best way of dealing with the monsters is to let them onto the bus. You don't know how long they are going to be on your bus but they will get off again at their stop just like all other passengers. You may feel a bit uncomfortable having monsters on your bus. You may feel the need to keep an eye on them, just to make sure they aren't setting fire to the seats. But if they are behaving themselves, or just being a bit boisterous without causing actual damage then you keep doing your job. You drive your bus and you wait for the monsters to get off.

Not only do I really like this visual, but I think it will be helpful to me when my husband asks "is something wrong?". My default reaction is to say "I'm fine," even if I am patently not fine, especially if I am not sure what emotions I am feeling, or why, or just don't want to discuss it with him or risk him trying to fix my problems. I think it will be easier for us both if I can say "there's a monster on my bus" and we can leave it at that until such time as I want to discuss it further.

[Srcyu]

None of this enhances your day.

I love that so much!
"There's a monster on my bus and it's trying to set fire to the seats!"

Thank you NarcKiddo, I like the element of humour in all of that and as usual, very well written by you.

[foobarred]

Great analogy! I've been working on "sitting with" my emotions, but it never occurred to me to lump food cravings into the same category.

As an aside, I have found sugar (white or brown) to be highly addictive for me. I quit baking cookies/cakes regularly, and reserved them for special occasions only --> *much* less preoccupation with food. Also less problems with joint inflammation, which is a nice bonus.

[wisingup]

I love this.  I've got several monsters on my bus right now & I was upset yesterday trying to figure out a way to kick them off.  Now I will take a deep breath & try to make peace with them sitting on my bus until they get off.  Thank you for this.

[countrygirl]

Thanks you for sharing this!   I love:  "There's a monster on my bus." 

[Poison Ivy]

Thank you, NarcKiddo. I typically allow the monsters onto the bus, but often I struggle with letting other people know about the monsters.