Practicing Patience…
As many of you know, I am driven and work very hard at what I do. I like to be successful and see progress is whatever it is that I am doing, but I am continually reminded to be patient, in all things in life: music, career, health…
The most recent example of this for me is in my health. I have been working on losing weight and improving my health for the last three years, and must admit that recently I have been feeling frustrated and impatient. I know several other people who have lost large amounts of weight very fast. Two of my friends in fact have lost between 70 and 90 pounds in one year and one has lost a staggering 200 ponds in 16 months. I, on the other hand, have lost 60pounds over three years, and have gained about 10 pounds of that back since before Christmas.
So, here I go, yet again comparing myself to other people. The fact is that we are all different, and lose weight at different rates. We all started at different weights to begin with as well, so these numbers represent different percentages of our initial weight. We have also all chosen various ways to lose weight, from working with a personal trainer, to Weight Watchers, to Simply for Life. I, on the other hand, have been taking this journey on my own. Not only that, but all of my friends in this case are male.
The problem with being frustrated about losing weight is that it often tends to send a person into a spiral of then not eating well, not losing weight, and continuing to be frustrated.
So, what am I doing? I have been reminded that if I make good decisions, get out of my own way, trust in the world, and remember to be patient, that life goes much better for me. This works in so many aspects of my life, so I have decided to take this approach with my weight and health. I am not longer weighing myself every morning (which I have done for pretty much the past three years) and am focusing on how I feel and how my clothes fit. So far, I feel great! I will be weighing myself at the end of the month to see how things are going, and hope not to have a rude surprise waiting for me, but honestly, I don’t think I will. Now that I am not trying to control my weight every day, I feel better, and am sure that I have been making better choices about food. Having said that, I was on the road last week with Symphony NB, and it is never easy to eat well on the road!
All in all, I do feel great though! We shall see how this all works out for me, but I feel good about my decision to get out of my own way and to practice patience!
photo credit: mod as hell via photopin cc