Surviving or Thriving?

Are you surviving or thriving right now?  Losing weight and letting go of unhealthy habits isn't easy and sometimes it might feel like you're hanging on by a thread with the goal of just surviving another day on plan.   I completely understand that feeling, and there were days when I was on the 5&1 weight loss phase of Take Shape for Life's program when I felt the same way.

But 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 me 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, my sister and some of my closest friends lose weight and get healthy.  It's so exciting!  That excitement continues as I talk to people every day who are now losing weight 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 :-).  Those changes will happen one day, one meal, and one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)