Once upon a time, there was a woman who wore rose colored glasses. They made the world a beautiful, hazy place where things were bright, happy, and wonderful. She loved those glasses and wore them every day. They took the harsh edges off the sometimes cruel world and changed the reality to something she wanted to see.

One day she forgot to put her glasses on and she went about her day. She began to see things as they really were, and not the sunny, distorted place she wanted to see. So many things began to appear before her that she found interesting and not as bad as she thought they might be. Until she found herself gazing at her image in the mirror.

There, the reality was unkind. She was not "fluffy", she was fat. She was not "Bigger" she was huge. SHe was not "sturdy", she was obese. She stared at her image and it burned into her brain.

As she went back to her castle that day, she couldn't wait to get her glasses back on. But those images of her bothered her and by the time she got back to the safety of her glasses, she knew.
She knew she had to change, to try to get that "real" image closer to the image from the rose colored glasses.

So she began. She joined Sparkpeople, tracked her food, began to excercise and gradually, her shape began to change. She met many fair maidens and noble knights who encouraged her along her way. She kept those rose colored glasses in her night stand and did not put them on.

She missed those glasses, though. Sometimes the glare of the real world was too much and she longed to put the glasses on and soften the edges. But she was different now and she was trying to learn to live without them. The journey was a hard one at times.Sometimes people didn't understand that she was sad. She clearly saw the sadness and struggles that happened to people she knew and loved.

She was a naturally optomistic lady but sometimes it was a bit too difficult to remember to enjoy the sunshine, rainbows and unicorns when the clouds and thunderstorms hit.

One day, she put the glasses on again. She was having a bad day and needed a break from the life that was now hers. As she looked at her castle, her world, her self, she realized that she wanted to see the world in a clear light, she wanted to see the real her. She realized that those glasses had not simply softened the edges, they had indeed altered the reality. There had to be a balance! Perhaps a lighter shade of pink? A less intense shade?

So she did some tinkering and came up with the right combination. It allowed her to remain optomistic, to see the world in a palatable way that she could manage, yet showed her the reality and the beauty in what actually IS.

A friend reminded her to count her blessings and she would get through the challenges ahead and now she can have her glasses and also have the real world,too. It is not as scary as she thought and she finds that she can manage just fine. Although she still has a way to go to get where she wants to be, she can smile while she gets there.
Plus, she looks fantastic with and without her glasses and so does the rest of the world.