power of groups

i miss weight watchers meetings. neal calls it a cult; i call it group therapy. i'm taking a group therapy course this semester, which has me thinking more and more about groups. i never thought about ww in that context, but it absolutely is therapeutic. using the counseling jargon, it's a psychoeducational group. basically, a group that has a central theme around which there is discussion and skill building. AA is another good example

i don't believe i took it for granted how much benefit i'd get from ww. i knew going in that i was a meetings girl; i needed face to face support when i was starting out. i definitely overestimated the ability of the online community to replace my meetings though. not to say my online support isn't spectacular, but i definitely believe there is a piece missing. the weekly #wwchat fizzled, iitgi floundered and i don't want to join the mfp discussion boards. all i have are blogs and twitter, which i'm not utilizing to their full potential. i could be doing so much better. i could reach out to others for help. i could implement a plan based on ideas from other bloggers. i could start documenting my struggles and successes again. but i won't. something gets lost in translation online. because, short of expressing myself in tumblr posts, i'm finding it extremely hard to convey precisely what i mean

it's frustrating. i'm frustrated with the same information. i'm frustrated with the support inconsistencies. but mostly, i'm frustrated with myself. intellectually, i'm there. i know what to do and how to do it. i'm just not emotionally involved. i can't work up the excitement i used to have. for myself and for others. i love the internet, but it just can't fulfill the role i need sufficiently

feeling a bit lost (via tumblr)