My lenten commitment was not to necessarily give up something but to take something on. I guess if I had to state that I was "giving something up" I would be giving up my lack of motivation to be physically active or to a degree laziness. I allow other things to take priority over my commitment to my physical health. "I'm too busy", "I'm too tired", "I don't feel like it" are all excuses I have made concerning becoming active. To a degree I think it is my personal rebellion against society stating you must be a certain weight and figure or all the other people who have been in my life trying to make me fit into their boxed image of what I should look like. Nonetheless, I have placed fitness and dieting on the back burner to so many other things.
This year I finally believe that I am ready. Through prayer and research, I have started a new fitness regimen, joined the gym, and have been trying to modify my eating. (Pray for a sistah as I am a sugar-holic in recovery...lol) As I have been on this journey, it has caused me to think about commitment in general. Oftentimes we do not maximize our lives because we don't understand the power of commitment. We have the ability in our society to be half committed to so many things, i.e. diets, marriage, careers, relationships, etc. You name it and we know of someone or even our own stories of how we have set out to do something but down the road chosen to abandon it for something else. Why do we fail at commitment?
Commitment seems to fail when we do not have the proper attitudes towards something. We have a "goal" before us but we fail to put an effective and realistic plan in place to achieve it. We have a "goal" but we don't put something before us that reminds us of our goal. We have a "goal" but we fail to allow or invite accountability into our lives to keep us on track toward the goal. There are many reasons why we don't meet the goal but if we are serious about it, then we have to change the way we think and behave in order to meet our goal.
Now that I have been on this journey, seriously, I have had to implement some behavior changes and thought life changes to ensure I stay successful. One thing I have had to do is confront the placed upon myself and the thought processes behind it. I have had to identify why I talk myself out of things and why I hinder my own success. I have enlisted an accountability partner to make sure that I go to the gym or that I eat properly. The biggest change I have had to make is to motivate myself. It is easy to depend on crutches such as people or other tools but the real test and the real success is when you can motivate yourself because "you" are ready to make a change.
I am excited at where I am going. I actually can see my goal before me. I am "finding my happy" and enjoying the journey. The destination is not the success for me, it is learning to enjoy and appreciate the journey. Until next time....
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Different Paths Lead to Similar Goals
Yesterday I ventured to Piedmont Park for my first walk of the spring. I am on this new fitness goal to lose weight and become a runner. As I was in the park, I really began to take notice of what was going on around me. There were the young, the young at heart, runners, walkers, boot-campers, men, women and children. Everyone was doing some type of physical activity.
As I continued walking, the Spirit provided me clarity on what I was to learn from this scenery. Though each person was at a different level of experience and on a different path, they were all working towards a similar goal - weight loss/management, physical fitness and/or enjoying the day. Though this was a natural activity, there was a spiritual revelation involved.
Oftentimes, we can develop a defeated attitude because we see others attaining rewards that we hope to receive and become frustrated because we have not gotten there. We may want to have a better marriage, better health, career aspirations or even fitness goals. No matter the goal, we all know people who are farther along on the journey than we are. We may feel as if we may not get there or we don't have what it takes to get there.
We must learn to appreciate where we are on "our" journey. God has given us all a path we must take towards our destiny. However, we cannot become jealous or envious of someone else. Instead we can use those persons as examples to motivate us to continue pushing, continue striving to get to the goal. We all must start somewhere and we all must finish our race the way we are intended to. We cannot successfully attain anything by being someone else. As we all consider the things we are trying to accomplish, we need to take a moment to celebrate ourselves and know that with hard work, perseverance and determination, along with God's help, we will get to the goal if we do not faint, quit or give up.
I will no longer allow myself to beat up on myself because I do not do something like someone else. I will not allow others to make me feel inferior because I may be just starting on something they have been doing for a while. I will continue to work on my dreams and goals until I achieve them. I will celebrate my journey and know that the rewards will be all the more worthwhile because I stayed in the race and I finished my course to my destiny.
Enjoy "your" journey! You will get there in the end!
As I continued walking, the Spirit provided me clarity on what I was to learn from this scenery. Though each person was at a different level of experience and on a different path, they were all working towards a similar goal - weight loss/management, physical fitness and/or enjoying the day. Though this was a natural activity, there was a spiritual revelation involved.
Oftentimes, we can develop a defeated attitude because we see others attaining rewards that we hope to receive and become frustrated because we have not gotten there. We may want to have a better marriage, better health, career aspirations or even fitness goals. No matter the goal, we all know people who are farther along on the journey than we are. We may feel as if we may not get there or we don't have what it takes to get there.
We must learn to appreciate where we are on "our" journey. God has given us all a path we must take towards our destiny. However, we cannot become jealous or envious of someone else. Instead we can use those persons as examples to motivate us to continue pushing, continue striving to get to the goal. We all must start somewhere and we all must finish our race the way we are intended to. We cannot successfully attain anything by being someone else. As we all consider the things we are trying to accomplish, we need to take a moment to celebrate ourselves and know that with hard work, perseverance and determination, along with God's help, we will get to the goal if we do not faint, quit or give up.
I will no longer allow myself to beat up on myself because I do not do something like someone else. I will not allow others to make me feel inferior because I may be just starting on something they have been doing for a while. I will continue to work on my dreams and goals until I achieve them. I will celebrate my journey and know that the rewards will be all the more worthwhile because I stayed in the race and I finished my course to my destiny.
Enjoy "your" journey! You will get there in the end!
Spring has Sprung..."Spring Cleaning"
Oftentimes, we allow life to overtake us and we neglect what needs to be done. Thus, we always hear about people doing "spring cleaning". Throughout the winter we allow things to pile up. We push things in closets and under the bed. We cause everything we choose not to deal with to be tucked nicely in that secret hiding place rather than figure out: do we need it, do we want it, or do we need to get rid of it.
As we do this with material items, we also do this with the emotional baggage of our lives. We keep shifting, tucking, hiding and compartmentalizing things until we decide to "spring clean". I guess I have done the tucking and hiding as I have moved through the winters of my life. I have chosen what I will not confront instead to compartmentalize it until an opportune time.
The opportune time has now presented itself. It is time to dust off the notebooks of goals and dreams, unpack the boxes of thoughts and prayers, and spring forward re-entering "my" life. I am 2 months away from my 35th birthday. I am finally at the place where I feel like I am exiting the winter and entering into the spring of my life.
During this re-awakening, I invite you to this journey. As I prepare for the big 35, I am opening up about my new journey. This is the journey towards dropping 20 pounds to be a healthier person. A journey of starting a church. A journey of the living the best life I can for me. My blog will chronicle this journey - the ups, downs and the in between. It is my prayer that as I open up and share it with the world, it will help someone else to open up, clear out the clutter, and live the life that God has designed for them.
Happy Spring Cleaning!
As we do this with material items, we also do this with the emotional baggage of our lives. We keep shifting, tucking, hiding and compartmentalizing things until we decide to "spring clean". I guess I have done the tucking and hiding as I have moved through the winters of my life. I have chosen what I will not confront instead to compartmentalize it until an opportune time.
The opportune time has now presented itself. It is time to dust off the notebooks of goals and dreams, unpack the boxes of thoughts and prayers, and spring forward re-entering "my" life. I am 2 months away from my 35th birthday. I am finally at the place where I feel like I am exiting the winter and entering into the spring of my life.
During this re-awakening, I invite you to this journey. As I prepare for the big 35, I am opening up about my new journey. This is the journey towards dropping 20 pounds to be a healthier person. A journey of starting a church. A journey of the living the best life I can for me. My blog will chronicle this journey - the ups, downs and the in between. It is my prayer that as I open up and share it with the world, it will help someone else to open up, clear out the clutter, and live the life that God has designed for them.
Happy Spring Cleaning!
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