The Power of Choices

Every blog I've written for quite some time has addressed, in one way or another, the opportunity we have every day to make choices that move us in one direction or another.  I emphasize choices because I don't want any of us to ever lose sight of the fact that we don't have to be victims of our circumstances, and to also encourage you to be an active participant in making your future what you want it to be.  We always have a choice.

So many of us have felt stuck for a long time, maybe trapped is even a better description.  For me, I felt trapped inside a body that I hated.  I hated how I looked and I hated how I felt.  I hated the size I was in and resented the fact that designers seemed to think that plus-size women liked to dress in awful colors and patterns.  For a long time I felt helpless to change my situation, but I kept trying - and failing.  This seemingly endless cycle of trying and failing further fueled my despair and my belief that I couldn't change.  It was a difficult situation to be in - hating where I was yet feeling powerless to change.  I blamed my failure on being weak and undisciplined and I beat myself up mentally and emotionally on a regular basis.

When I was seriously considering weight loss surgery, and contemplating taking out a second mortgage to pay for it, I realized that I had somehow turned a corner in my thinking.  I had reached a level of desperation with my weight that I hadn't experienced before, and that's when I was finally ready - finally - to change.  Finally ready to admit that I couldn't do this on my own.  Before mortgaging our home and our future, I decided to give Take Shape for Life/Medifast a try. 

So my first choice on my journey was to order a month's worth of product.  That first month was amazing for me because I not only saw weight beginning to melt and saw my blood sugar return to normal, but I also did something I'd never done before - I followed the plan as written and didn't cheat.  Every day that I was on plan empowered me and propelled me forward to the next day.  I'd heard that it takes 21 days to make a new habit or break an old habit, so I made the choice to stay on plan for 21 days to see if it really would be possible to break old habits and begin to establish new ones.

I had no idea that those choices would set in motion a series of other choices that would finally bring me to my goal, and that the new habits that grew from those choices would keep me in my goal range more than two years later.  The choices we get not only have their own set of consequences, but they beget other choices.

Do you want your future to include a healthier you?  Choose to be an active participant in creating that future, because it's there if you want it.  As always, choose wisely :-)