For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. ~ Alfred D. Souza
So? What do you think Jen about that last post--I Will Never Be Ready?
I'm finally re-reading my last post at close to 11 pm tonight, and I'm not sure what to say. I've thought a lot about it.
My words are true. I am not ready to start losing weight. I am not ready to start. I will never be ready to start.
Life is messy and crazy and exhausting and impossible and hard and busy. I will never get all of my stuff done. It's like doing laundry--once you get it all done, you just keep making dirty clothes, and you just have to do it again. The business of my life is never going to be put together in this little box of perfection and order that I want--that my mind wants.
And my mind has to get over it. My mind has to adjust. My mind has to embrace that my life will always have bumps and roadblocks and messy crap! My life is messy, but it's not impossible.
I love the above quote above! It's telling me there is no waiting, no planning, no getting ready. Everything just -- IS. All of this stuff that I'm trying to do to prepare myself to make the right choices and get into the right state of mind--I'm actually already there. This is my life! This is it Jen. There's no waiting or getting ready or moving forward about it.
This is my life. And if I continue in the "I'm getting ready" mode, I'm going to one day realize that --"Oh! That was my life back there, and it's passed me by." Wasting time! (Hey--shout out to-- Waisting Time--what a so appropriate title!)
So what does this all mean Jen? Now that you know that you are in it? You can continue to delay in the excuse of "getting ready." Or what?
You can act. choose. decide. live. Live. LIVE. Live. Live.
What does that mean Jen? How are you going to act? Choose? Decide? Live? All of these obstacles--this deciding--it's your life! Don't you want to move forward. To act on what you say you want. To set a goal and work toward it. To say with the deepest core of your being -- that this is what you want life to be-- and then make the choices that support that life.
What are you doing Jen? What are you waiting for?
So here's the deal. I'm going to admit this to y'all right now. This is how my mind works in this deal:
Finally went grocery shopping today. Bought tons of great, healthy food. Also bought a half gallon of ice cream -- one last treat, you know--cost me $2.50 (I hate to throw out money. Wasting money. Wasting time. Wasting life). Here are some scenerios:
A. I could go upstairs and throw the ice cream in the trash right now. You can't pull melted ice cream out of the trash in the morning.
B. I could wake up tomorrow morning and say -- Nope. Too bad. Just not ready to start. I've got ice cream in the fridge. Once it's gone, oh yeah, then I'll be ready to --REALLY start.
C. I could wake up tomorrow morning and decide -- I'm living my life right this moment. I'm not starting. I'm not ready. I am in my life. I am choosing. acting. living. And I am making the change. I am strong. I am deciding. The ice cream goes in the garbage and I live to my goals.
I live to my goals.
I'm routing for C. I just went back and reread Diane's post that started this all for me, along with many comments. One talked about the power of visualization. As I hit the hay tonight, I'm going to visualize myself doing C. C. C. I'm excited. I'm going to bed.
You could also have one serving of ice cream for dessert each night as a treat. Work it into your plan. My belief is everything in moderation. The one food I have trouble with that with is chips. Maybe ice cream is that way for you, if so, my suggestion of one serving for dessert could be a bsd one!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout out!
ReplyDeleteI hear you. I have many times really believed I was not ready. There was always some event coming up so why start before that. I did what you did countless times - bought that last treat because the diet would start the next day. I did that enough times to gain weight doing that! I had the same thought process and some days I tossed the food that night, while my stomach was too full from eating it. Some days I waited until morning and tossed. Some days I waited until morning and didn't toss. Sometimes I went back to the store and replace what I had thrown away!
I do think that we have to be somewhat ready. Ready in our heads to try. Ready with some sort of plan and healthy food. But the other stuff is always going to be in the way so we need to ignore it and move on for ourselves.
I started my last diet on December 28. I thought about waiting until after New Year's Eve. That is a big food night and so many people are inspired the next day. But for some reason I new I needed to start then... not waiting another day... not doing a few more pounds of damage. Not wasting any more time.
You can do it too! I am sending you a huge internet hug.
Karen
Thanks for the shout out!
ReplyDeleteI hear you. I have many times really believed I was not ready. There was always some event coming up so why start before that. I did what you did countless times - bought that last treat because the diet would start the next day. I did that enough times to gain weight doing that! I had the same thought process and some days I tossed the food that night, while my stomach was too full from eating it. Some days I waited until morning and tossed. Some days I waited until morning and didn't toss. Sometimes I went back to the store and replace what I had thrown away!
I do think that we have to be somewhat ready. Ready in our heads to try. Ready with some sort of plan and healthy food. But the other stuff is always going to be in the way so we need to ignore it and move on for ourselves.
I started my last diet on December 28. I thought about waiting until after New Year's Eve. That is a big food night and so many people are inspired the next day. But for some reason I new I needed to start then... not waiting another day... not doing a few more pounds of damage. Not wasting any more time.
You can do it too! I am sending you a huge internet hug.
Karen
I did choose C--I threw out the ice cream.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on having one serving of ice cream! Great idea! Right now, the problem is I want to eat it all until it's gone. I don't want to eat it in moderation. So if it's there, it's a chance for me to wobble in my decision making to move on and live.
Maybe soon I will be able to have that one serving and be OK. I'm hoping to get there.
Today I'm choosing not to eat the ice cream at all. Today I'm choosing. That feels like a good thing.
Thanks for your awesome comments--they mean the world to me!
I often think about weight loss readiness in the same fashion as I do about people saying they are not "ready" for children. There never is a perfect time for either. Sometimes you just have to jump in and swim. You may need to grab the sides of the pool for a breather, but as long as you keep trying to get to the other side you will succeed.
ReplyDeleteYou can do this! And thanks for the mention!
I love the quote you listed. And I know what you mean. I think the key is just making the decision to do it, even though it's hard, and there will be bumps in the road - you know there will be - and sticking to it. If I can do this, I know you can too. :)
ReplyDelete