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Maple Bars Equal Safety (Originally published by Thrive Global)

Feb 18, 2022

At least they do for me.

I was raised in an extremely violent home. I always knew I was going to get hit I just never knew when, how hard or for what

As you can imagine it was pretty scary for a child to be raised in an environment like that.

At this point you may be asking yourself “What on earth does this have to do with maple bars?”

My answer is EVERYTHING!

You see, my most fond memories as a child were when I went to visit my Grandparents. When I was with Grandma and Grandpa I could relax and the best part was that Grandma almost always had maple bars in her kitchen.

Fast forward to about 20 years ago when I was running a successful fitness training business. I coached over 350 Women across the finish line of their first fitness events. Most of which were sprint distance triathlons.

Whether I was working with my private clients or my groups clients I taught them the power of being mindful when they chose the foods they ate.

I never restricted what they ate, I simply asked them to take a moment to check in with themselves to make sure that cookie or burger was really what they wanted or if something else would satisfy their desire.

If it WAS what they wanted, great, then enjoy the hall out of it. If it wasn’t by taking that moment they could figure out what it was they really wanted that they could have instead.

Again you may be asking “Okay but how exactly do maple bars fit in?”

Well a few years ago I was sitting in the parking lot of a doughnut store because I REALLY wanted a maple bar. I mean REALLY, REALLY wanted one.

I took a moment to check in with myself. In that moment I discovered that the reason I wanted a maple bar is because as a child I had made the connection that Maple bars equaled safety.

i was always safe when I visited my Grandparents and Grandma almost always had maple bars.

In that moment I realized that I was feeling unsafe and in need of comfort which is why I wanted a maple bar so badly.

I was able to push the pause button in order to decide whether or not I really wanted a maple bar.

In the end I did and I did enjoy the hell out of it. I was also able to take action to help myself feel safe in other ways as well.

Maple bars might not equal safety for you but I guarantee you that you have your own version of Maple Bars = Safety operating system humming along in your subconscious.

When you give yourself the Gift of pushing the pause button long enough for you to discover it your entire world will change for the better.

To this day maple bars are my absolute FAVORITE doughnut of all time, but seriously, what’s NOT to LOVE about them?

Huge Love,

Jennifer Malocha