Saturday, March 26, 2011

Commitment

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....

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