What you get by achieving your goals
is not as important as
what you become by achieving your goals.
Henry David Thoreau
When I began my journey to a healthier me I knew I needed a goal; an aim, a target, an end. I also knew that giving myself the goal to loose a 100 pounds would be seriously overwhelming and I'd fail miserably. So I started out with small, attainable goals. For me it was pre-babies weight, pre-wedding weight, pre-meeting my husband the wonderful cook weight and finally what the BMI chart says is a healthy weight for someone my size.
Maybe your goal isn't a number. Maybe it's to move more, portion control, drinking more water or to try new things. Maybe your goal is to find peace in your own skin. That ended up being my goal. Peace, more than any number on the scale; I wanted peace.
It's true the scale can give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity.
That's it.
It cannot measure your beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength or love.
Don't give the scale more power than it's earned.
Steve Maraboli
Once it clicked in my brain that the number on the scale held no power over me I began to feel peace. Once it clicked that the number on the tag of my jeans did not define my worth I began to feel confidence. And it snowballed from there into amazing, life changing things. I became a different person. A lighter, healthier, more confident me.
Karen Ehman speaks on her blog about defining your week by obedience, not the number on the scale. She says that before we step on to the scale we should ask ourselves: Did I overeat this week on any day? Did I move more and exercise regularly? Do I feel lighter than I did at this time last week? Did I eat in secret or out of anger or frustration? Did I feel that, at any time I ran to food instead of to God? Before I hopped on the scale, did I think I'd had a successful, God-pleasing week? As you review the questions you can assess your own progress and after you come face to face with your own, honest answers, the number on the scale doesn't mean much.
God created it.
Jesus died for it.
The Spirit lives in it.
I'd better take care of it.
Pastor Rick Warren (re:our bodies)
It's common knowledge that exercise has amazing health benefits physically and mentally but I neglected it for a long time. I didn't like it. It was hard! It felt like punishment and made me want to groan or cry. Maybe your feeling the same?
But as I started to see the results of just changing my eating habits I became more curious as to what would happen if I added exercise to the mix. My goal was small and simple: Move More. Because basically I was doing nothing, outside of chasing three small children and taking care of our home, so anything was better than nothing.
First, focus on something you can do. For me, I started walking. If we had an errand to run that was within walking distance, we walked. When the weather became too cold and the sidewalks and roads were covered in snow and ice I got a pass to the elementary school and walked there. (Since I didn't have a destination, this was sometimes hard to make myself do until I found a friend willing to walk with me. Accountability made a huge difference!)
Meanwhile, my husband started running, like miles at a time. I was jealous. I wanted to be able to run with him. So I started off small. Jog half a block, walk two blocks, seriously. Until, finally the day when I ran my first nonstop mile in 13 minutes. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and jumped up and down and did a happy dance. Yep, that was me.
Finding something you can do and enjoy doing will make all the difference in getting started. Maybe it's walking or running. Maybe it's joining a gym or an intramural sports team? Maybe it's swimming or yoga? Keep trying things until you find one that fits!
And sometimes that means trying things you never dreamed you'd enjoy. For me it was a dance class. Our church started offering a REFIT class. The timing was perfect for my schedule, it was all the ladies were talking about. But slightly uncoordinated me wasn't too sure. Dancing? In a room full of women?
But I gathered up all my new found confidence and went to my first class. I realized about 3 songs in that I was too busy watching the instructor and trying to figure out the moves to look at anyone else. So I figured no one else had time to be looking at me. It. was. amazing. I'm hooked. I have little REFIT dance parties in my living room with my girls daily now. Who knew? I wouldn't have if I hadn't taken a chance.
KNOW
THAT
YOU
ARE
MORE
THAN
ENOUGH,
YOU
MATTER
TO
SOMEONE.
YOU
ARE
A
STORY
OF
REDEMPTION,
RESTORATION,
REVOLUTION.
YOU
ARE
THE
SPARK
THAT
LIGHTS
THE
FLAME,
YOU
BRING
PURPOSE
TO
THE
WORLD
AROUND
YOU.
LIVE
FREE.
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