Thriving, Not Just Surviving

Happy Monday morning! I hope you survived the holiday weekend on plan!

I take that back . . . I hope you THRIVED over the past holiday weekend!! I say "thrived" because holidays and celebrating and having fun are about SO much more than what's on our plate. If you THRIVED over the weekend, then you took a giant step forward in not only reaching your goal weight, but maintaining it once you get there.

My goal is no longer to survive, it's to THRIVE - to bloom wherever I'm planted and find joy along the journey and not just hope there's some joy at my destination. That doesn't mean that I've adopted an unrealistic, sugar-sweetened view of life, because the journey itself is difficult - LIFE is difficult! When you add the challenge of losing weight to the other challenges you're facing in your life, it can seem like it's too much sometimes, unless you've embraced a "thrive, not just survive" attitude.

This weight loss journey can be one of the most important journeys of your life, if you'll let it. While I was losing my 126 pounds, I saw a lot of things change for my internally. How I thought about food changed, how I reacted to the stuff of life changed, how I felt about myself changed, and most important, my relationship with my Heavenly Father grew.

Several months into my journey, somewhere in the fall of 2007, I told my husband that I had a sense that this journey was about a lot more than just me losing weight. I told my husband that I felt like God was somehow going to use this in my life for more than just getting me to a healthy weight. I had no idea what that might be, but I knew (and I know) that God doesn't waste any of the experiences in our lives, if we allow Him to work in and through them (and us). So I had an attitude of expectation as I continued moving towards my goal and really embraced the idea of looking for joy along the way.

I set a lot of mini-goals to keep me excited about the journey, and I celebrated as I reached each one. I didn't attach a date to the mini-goals, because I knew that I had no control over how long it would take my body to drop the weight - I could only control whether or not I stayed on plan. Reaching each mini-goal recharged my batteries just a bit and propelled me on towards my next mini-goal. Along the way I looked for and celebrated all of the non-scale victories (like realizing that my thighs no longer touched when I walked!), and I continued to commit my journey to the Lord.

What I didn't realize was the way that my own journey would encourage so many of my family members and friends to begin their own weight loss journey. I've seen my husband, my son, my son-in-law, both my parents, and some of my closest friends lose weight - several have gotten off medications! It's so exciting! That excitement continues as I talk to people every day who are now losing weight, getting off of medications, and getting excited and optimistic about their life.

My encouragement to you today is not only to stay on plan, but to THRIVE in the process! Look for joy on the journey, and don't be surprised at the changes that will happen in and to you along the way - watch for them :-).

Who's committed to a thriving, on-plan day today?