When We Grow Up

Last night we attended our 6-year old granddaughter's kindergarten graduation.  The school gym was packed with parents, siblings, grandparents and great-grandparents; it was warm and noisy and even getting there 30 minutes early, the best seats my parents and I could find were in the back of the room.  It was hard to see Kayla from where we were, but she knew we were there and that's what really mattered.

Following a short program where the children sang a series of songs, the children sat down and then stood individually as they were announced.  The teacher who introduced each child stated what that child wanted to be when they grew up, and each announcement was followed by applause.  We heard lots of "fireman, policeman, doctor, nurse, teacher, ballerina" - what you would expect from  kindergartener.  We also heard some unexpected career choices (undoubtedly influenced by what a parent does), including engineer, "heating and cooling guy", architect and accountant.  Our granddaughter?  She said she wants to be a "horse rider."

What struck me as each child was introduced and each career choice was announced is that each child absolutely, 100% believed this is what they're going to do, and they believed they can do it.  Their little eyes were full of hope and belief that they can do anything they want, and the applause that followed each introduction told them that they have the love and support to do it.

We were all there once upon a time - full of hope and filled with the belief that we could be whatever we wanted when we grew up.  Then we grew up, and with the growing up many of us stopped believing that we could become anything we want to be. Years or even decades after leaving childhood behind, some of us stopped dreaming of a better tomorrow and have found ourselves just trying to survive today and settling for far less than we ever thought.

It's time to dream again.  It's time to believe that tomorrow is filled with hope and promise, that we can be whatever we want to be when we grow up!

What I've seen happen over and over again is that as individuals regain control of their weight and their health, they begin to feel empowered to make other changes in their lives.  They find a strength they'd forgotten they had and have a renewed confidence and sense of self-worth.  As individuals realize their dream of getting to their goal weight, they begin to understand that it's possible to fulfill other dreams, too.

It's not that losing weight magically makes other dreams come true.  Rather, the change that happens inside us as we move towards our goal can become the catalyst for other changes.

So what do you want to be when you grow up?  Don't be afraid to dream, then know that the choices you make today can play a part in making that dream a reality.  With that in mind, choose wisely :-)