I was going about my daily chores this morning, thinking about my current journey to fitness; and then it hit me. Thirty years ago I dreamed of a 'little house on the prairie' lifestyle. I pictured myself in a very simple house on a postage stamp of land. I wanted to make my own herbal remedies, pick and preserve my own fruits, grow my own vegetables. I envisioned myself wearing long gowns, wrapping myself against the cold with a shawl or a cloak, rather than a coat.

In my vision I had a goat, and some hens, and a Great Dane who went with me everywhere. I wrote or did something funky for a living, something where I could work from home. I was quite solitary, but I had a core of good friends, and a loving husband.

This morning, as I took off my shawl while lighting the wood stove, I looked down at my long gown, my feet in handmade shoes, and I realized that much of the vision I had thirty years ago of who I wanted to be had come true. No hens, no goat; but I saw so many aspects of my dreams in the reality I am living. I also realized that the lifelong fear I have had of being a fat old lady is also coming true.

The wonderful thing about putting the pieces of all of this together in my head this morning was that it brought home to me what I have said time and time again; what we think, we create. I thought about a life that was more like my grandmother must have lived than that of today's modern 'career woman,' and I created it. Sadly, I also created the extra pounds, using exactly the same law of physics that like energy attracts like energy!

I'm not going to let that fat get me down, though. Far from it! This is a reason to celebrate, for if thoughts become things, then I can think my way into a better lifestyle and a healthier body just by claiming it as mine, and knowing that it will happen. Think about it, talk about it, birth it into being with the choices I make. It's time not to make a difference, but to BE the difference. Today really is the first day of the rest of my life. I'm excited about the journey.