Go for the Gold!

I admit it . . . I'm an Olympics fan from start to finish.  Every time the Olympics are on, I try to watch as much of the competition as I can - I absolutely love it.  One of my favorite parts of the Olympics' coverage is when we are told a little about the background story of one of the competitors.  It's always inspiring for me to hear about the competitors and the journey they took to represent their country in the Olympics.

To a person, the background story of every competitor boils down to someone who made a primary choice to excel in their chosen sport and then made a multitude of secondary choices in support of their primary choice.  Once the decision was made to become the best they could possibly be in their sport, each competitor's story is one of sacrifice, commitment, dedication, and unwavering focus.  All of the sacrifices were done because they had their eyes on a prize - the possibility of representing their country and bringing home a gold medal.  Getting up early to practice, enduring injuries, keeping their bodies in top form, financial sacrifice to pay for top training - each competitor knows that winning a gold medal would be worth it all.  Some of the skills finely honed through countless hours of training have little or no application outside of the Olympics (I'm thinking about curling, for instance . . . ), so the sacrifice involved is all in preparation for a single event.

We're in training for our own gold medal today, but our performance isn't subject to the scrutiny of a panel of judges and our gold medal isn't elusive.  We also aren't competing against anyone else.  For each of us on Take Shape for Life/Medifast, this is our own personal Olympic journey and reaching our goal is akin to winning a gold medal. 

On second thought, reaching our goal is even better than winning a gold medal.  A gold medal, important as it is, represents a moment in time.  All of the training and sacrifice culminates in one shining moment, then it's over.  For those of us who reach our goal, it's not the end, but the beginning of the rest of our long and healthy life. 

No Olympic athlete standing on the medals platform thinks "the sacrifice wasn't worth it - I should have slept in instead of getting up early every morning."  As I watch the tears in their eyes and see their pride as they watch their country's flag raised in their honor, I believe each one thinks that everything they did to get there was absolutely worth it. 

Having reached my weight loss goal (over four years ago!), I can assure you that it was worth every sacrifice - EVERY sacrifice!  When you reach your own goal, you'll think the same thing - I promise.

Go for the gold today!  It's within your reach by making one choice at a time.  Choose wisely :-)