The View from the Top

Happy Friday! I spent all day yesterday with one of my Take Shape for Life friends and fellow health coach, riding around in her red jeep and seeing the beauty of the California desert with her. We ended the day by sitting outside watching the stars and talking about our respective weight loss journeys. Our journeys are different (each one of us has our own unique story), but we both marvel at how far we've come because of this program - and the grace of God.

It's easy for us to compare stories and get discouraged if someone else's story is more exciting than our own. We hear about someone who dropped 50 pounds in three months and we can become discouraged if we've taken five months to lose the same amount of weight. Or we're happy with our two pound weight loss this week until we hear about someone else who lost four pounds, making our two pounds seem insignificant.

One of the things I learned on my own journey was that I couldn't compare my own progress and my own journey to anyone else's. I could always find someone who was losing faster than I was, and that's who I would have compared myself to (I never compared myself to anyone who was losing more slowly than I - funny how that works!). When I would compare myself to someone else and inevitably come up short, it created frustration and dissatisfaction - definitely NOT a good thing! I had to come to terms with the fact that this was MY journey, and ultimately it didn't matter how long it would take me to reach my goal, the important thing was that I got there.

I heard someone remark recently that it doesn't matter how long it takes to get to the top, because the view is the same once you're there, regardless of how long it takes you to get there. I think that is a great statement and provides a wonderful perspective for us to embrace.

We are on a journey towards improving our health and permanently changing our lifestyle so that we stay at a healthy weight for the rest of our lives. We can't control how fast our bodies choose to release the weight, but we can choose whether or not we're going to stay on plan. As long as we're doing what we know we need to do, we are going to reach our goal. Ultimately, that's what really matters. Don't allow yourself to get discouraged by comparing your progress to someone else's. This is your journey, and when you reach the top, the view is magnificent!

Have a great Friday!