One of the toughest things I’ve learned over the past 4 or so months is taking ownership of my own emotions and responsibilities.
You see, back in July, my right leg started giving me some major problems. At that time I was 144 pounds or so, and the melting of the fat on my leg reduced the needed cushioning of my femur exostoses. Regular minor front kicks in karate became impossible to do, and more often than not, I had to hold in my right thigh to complete my beloved 2.4 mile circle walks.
Looking back now, I can see now that I had several choices back then. I could have decided, okay, exercise is becoming too tough, and just plain stopped (instead, I modified my workouts).
I could have said, okay, I’m deteriorating as I speak, and forgo my karate and kendo (instead, I modified that as well and do mainly hand techniques).
I could have said, I can always take off the weight while I’m in recovery from surgery, and returned to my original eating habits (instead, I figured EEEEEK! that would give me even more weight to remove in the future).
In other words, I have only myself to either blame, or congratulate, for my choices.
I cannot hoist responsibility on my spouse, my friends, what have you…. for any choice I have made regarding my diet, my health, my weight loss journey, etc.
I own it all. If I had let what others say influence my behavior, then I would have to assume responsibility for being swayed.
My dieting and weight loss results are mine and mine alone. I am the only one who controls what I ultimate choose to do.
Have you internalized this yourself yet? So many times, I’ll hear people say, I want to lose weight, I really do, while they’re snacking on ice cream or reading at the gym instead of working out. I think that happens because they have intellectualized the desire….but it’s not emotionally engraved in their very souls.
When you really and truly want to lose weight, when getting healthy tastes better than any chocolate cake in creation, when you can seriously say, tempt me with calories I will not budge….THEN, and only then, will the weight come off.
But you have to turn the key.
So tell me….at the end of your journey, will you be blaming….or congratulating yourself? I send you lots of good wishes that it’s the latter.
Barbara
ps – Here are some rewards I could imagine congratulating myself with: