Do It For Yourself!

I am a person who has been up and down in my weight my entire life. Mostly up but a few times down. Eveytime I would balloon up into the hemisphere on the scale my mother and other family members would say little hints to me and some times to my husband too. Not hurtful things but words out of concern. "Kevin can you say something to her to try to help her with her weight problem?" Or "She really needs to get her weight under control while she is young and her metabolism will help her to do it." and every time it was like the words were "falling on deaf ears". (This is a very old expression used to describe when someone is being told something and they just don't seem to hear it. It is like speaking to a deaf person who really cannot hear.) Well mom and all of my other family members who have said those words to me and about me in the past, Thank You! I really want to thank you for your concern way back then and now. Your words were "falling on deaf ears" but some how they were being stored in my memory banks to be retrieved and evaluated for a later time, and that time is now!

The reason I have titled this post "Do it for yourself" is because something that I am learning on my journey to a new me is that I can't do it for anyone else before I "first" do it for myself.

We went on vacation earlier this summer and when we boarded the airplane I saw many families traveling with small children. (We both prayed that we would not stuck sitting near a screaming kid and we were blessed with a rather quiet ride.) But before lift off the flight attendants do their last minute flight check and the video begins to roll that explains the safety features of the jet airplane that we are flying along with the emergency exits. Well I don't know about any of you but I hope and pray that I am never on a airplane that I would have to use one of those. But here is the part that stuck out to me the most. They explained that if the cabin should lose air pressure an oxygen mask will drop down from above your head and you are to secure it around yourself first and then you are to assist your small children with theirs. Wow that makes a lot of sense. Of course you should affix your own oxygen mask to yourself first before trying to help anyone else and this got me to thinking about my journey to a new me.

How many times have I started to lose weight and I said I was doing it for my parents, or my husband? How many times have I been unsuccessful at this thing called a "diet"? I can answer these questions, Too Many! I know something now that I did not know then and I want to share this little golden nugget with all of you. You can't do it for others you must do it for yourself! Just like others can't do the journey for me, I must do it for myself! Well isn't that a revelation that was a very long time in the realizing? Why did I think that I could be successful at losing weight or anything else if I was doing it for someone else?

In all the years that I have tried to lose weight and failed, I can honestly say that this time is different. This time I know and feel the difference. It is not just because other people are noticing, and making nice comments. It is because I FEEL the Difference! Not just on my physical body but inside. It feels like I have not only lost 76 pounds of ugly fat on my frame, but an additional 76 pounds of emotional baggage as well!

I don't know about you but I am doing it for myself this time and forever and I know that others will benefit because of it. I will be able to do more than I ever have before and I will hopefully live a much longer and healthier life. So here's a cheer for me and "doing it for myself"! I believe I can do it, and I know you can too!