What I've Learned . . . Again . . .

As I shared yesterday, a lot of "life happens" is happening in my life right now and my response hasn't supported my long-term goal to live a longer, healthier life.  Without even realizing it, I somehow found myself firmly back in a survival mode and mindset, solely focused on the here and now rather than keeping one eye fixed on my long-term goals.

I've been reminded again of a couple of key, and very basic, principles.  When these are forgotten or set aside, the outcome is seldom what we truly want.

The first basic principle is that we HAVE to stay focused on what we really want long term.  Life happens to all of us and there is an overwhelming tendency to set aside our real goals because we're caught up in surviving the moment.  That may be our natural tendency (at least it's MY natural tendency . . . ), but doing that doesn't serve our long-term, best interests.  Choosing to lift our eyes from the here and now to focus on our real goals will help us regain perspective and will also remind us of the wise choices needed to reach those goals.  I temporarily forgot about what I really, truly wanted.  Now that I've reminded myself again and have focused on that, my head and my heart are in a different - and better - place.

Second principle, and this may be the most important one of all (at least it is to me):  Food won't fix it.  No matter what the situation is, no matter how stressful a situation may be, food doesn't fix it.  My "go to" food lately has been sweets.  My normally "clean" kitchen has been infiltrated by things that are normally banned . . . and I did the infiltration myself :-(.  "Treating" myself to these things left me feeling sluggish and less able to deal with the stress, to say nothing of the fact that some clothes are fitting a bit more snug right now which generates a myriad of not-so-happy feelings.  Making poor choices not only fails to fix the original issue, but doing so creates more stress and more negative feelings.  NOT a good cycle to find ourselves in!

One of the things I learned on my 5&1 journey in 2007-2008 was that I needed to look to the TRUE Source of any comfort I needed - my Heavenly Father.  Although I've done a lot of praying lately about some of the situations we're facing, I haven't continued to ask God for the strength I needed to make healthy choices. I realized in 2007-2008 that I couldn't lose the weight without His help, but somehow I slipped into thinking that I could maintain and continue to make healthy choices on my own.  I've been reminded - again - of my ongoing need to depend on the Lord ALL the time.  That's a good thing :-)

So that's where I am today, and I'm committed today, with God's help, to choose wisely :-).