Monday, March 22, 2010

All I Ever Needed

I truly believe there are two kinds of people in the world: the ones that see excuses and the ones that see obstacles. Which one are you? When something comes your way that could potentially get between you and goal, does it become your excuse for not getting there or setting your back? Or does it become your obstacle, something for you to overcome and make your accomplishment more worthwhile?


Admittedly, as of late I have been the excuse maker. I have been letting the generals of life be my excuse for everything. Since I do not have groceries, I will just eat whatever, however much and however frequently. Since I have to work early, I have no time to run. My running and weight loss journey has been the shantiest house of cards. When one face card is removed, the whole three story edifice falls.


I wasted last week, and I tried to make it a joke. Tried to make light of it, and tried to make it out to be like no big deal. Each day, Monday through Sunday, I continually told myself Do Better. Why? Because I deserve better, I deserve more than the mediocrity I have been giving myself. I am not finished and I am acting like I am. I am pretending like I know it all, I've done it all and most importantly I've lost it all.


By Friday, when I had not done better I reached out for help. Asking for assistance is typically a fundamental key to success in many plans, albeit weight loss, learning something new, recovery...really everything. The bottom line is this: when I feel like letting go of the wheel, I need someone else to snap me back in the driver's seat.



All it takes is one decision. One decision to turn things around. One small choice to get you back on path. It's like if you keep taking left turn, after left turn and you're lost-but you go right once and you're back on route. That's all I ever needed, one small decision to make me feel like I am back in control. Even if that choice came seven days late, it happened. Even if that choice came at 10 pm, it happened. Yes, I may have spent the day eating cookie after cookie BUT when I reached for my seventh I said Maybe there are some carrots instead.

What do you know? There were some carrots. You could twist this into a giant metaphor if you wanted. The cookie sweet, and delicious may be everything I want right now it's not getting me where I want to be. Carrots, give me heart burn and bad breath, but they might get my foot out the door. And whether the cookie is an obstacle or an excuse is really all up the person, but for now it's my obstacle that I'm looking at in the rear view mirror.


Today's Challenge Question: What's one GOOD decision you've made today?

Today's Mileage: 3.1 miles
Time: 26:47

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I have a fairly boring job...So I tend to eat out of extreme boredom... So I have really been focused on listening to my stomach and saying ok Deanna you are not hungry just drink some water and chew some gum you don't need food. I am extremely proud of how well I did today. I didn't even eat my "extra" snack that I always bring and hide away just in case... I am really trying to refocus my attention and so far so good.

An Attractive Nuisance said...

i'm going to post one good decision i made yesterday because i've only been up for a little bit and haven't had any time to make any bad decisions :)

yesterday i decided to go spinning even though i was still sore from my race on saturday. it was a good decision for me because not only did i get my activity in for the day, but the class also really stretched out my legs so i'm feeling much better today!

MnM said...

inspirational

birdy said...

Good decision I made: no fries at dinner! It's been a long day. Unfortunately, that's my best decision.

Kari Alison said...

I ran my 2 miles tonight even though I REALLY didn't want to...of course, I'm glad I did now :-)

Becky said...

I'm really behind but I'm posting an answer to the question anyway.

One good thing I did today: I started to eat a candy bar and after one bite went "What am I doing? I don't want this!" and threw it out.

BIG accomplishment for me.