There is a quote I like that has made a big impact on my healthy lifestyle journey: ''We’re all just one small adjustment away from making our lives work!''--Tosca Reno. Think about that for a moment. I have been at this journey for three years now. Along the way, I have had to constantly remind myself that big progress can be made over time with small adjustments and continuous effort. It’s the over time part that is hard for us to grasp sometimes. It's easy to get stuck in that ''all or nothing'' mentality, where we will want to give up if we don't see fast results on the scale. So here is a physical example of what I mean by small changes over time making an impact: My husband and I go to a theater near this piece of land shown in the photograph. For quite awhile it was just a grassy field. Then, one day, we saw men out there measuring and marking things off. This was followed by a worksite that was set up, and then by supplies being dropped off and sorted into rather large sections. Next came the men in hardhats and the giant cement trucks, and construction began in earnest. For months now there has been a large construction crew out there working. That grassy field has now turned into this: Looks nice, right? A brand new hospital in our area that started from that small grassy patch and the placement of the first brick has grown into this beautiful building.But wait….what if you stand at a slightly different angle and look at the other side? You get this: Still a work in progress, isn’t it? Hospitals take a lot to function. I’ve worked in one before, and I loved it. They are much like a small city with backup power to keep the facility running no matter what happens outside. You can’t have the power going off during surgery, right?! Even when this building is finished, guess what it will have? A maintenance department! There will always be something in the large space that has to be touched up, repaired, made new, added to or changed. I think this perspective has helped me in my quest for health. It takes a lot of hard work to lose weight and keep it off.The thing about the building rising up in the grassy field is that it started even before the men stepped foot out there to mark that first brick placement. It had to start with the idea of the building, followed by architects designing the building, and then action. Much like that, we have SparkPeople, which has already been thought up for us, designed and waiting there patiently for each of us to use it. The site wasn’t created with the thought that you could transition from overweight to perfect in some extremely small period of time. It was designed for the long haul, to teach us one step at a time how to overcome the lifelong negative tendencies and to become that strong, healthy, fit person that we all want to be. ''It’s the 60 seconds that it takes to make a decision that can make or break a person’s life''-- another Tosca quote. One small step, after another, after another….brick, by brick, by brick – they all add up. You can transition from that unhealthy couch potato to a race-runner. Are you tempted to give up because you don’t think your results are fast enough? Are you discouraged by the number on the scale? Take a deep breath, slow down, and make a small step that will add another success in your lifelong journey to get and stay healthy. Share with us what step you can take today to start or continue on in the right direction. |
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