I went running this morning and I hated it. My friend didn't show, my music died, and my body ached. It. Was. Torture. At least for the first part of my run it was. I kept thinking of all of the reasons why I should quit and go home. (And believe me, I came up with plenty of them.) But then I started thinking of the reasons why I should continue on. Slowly, my inner dialogue shifted from being negative to positive. And do you know what happened? My body didn't seem to ache as much and I started to actually enjoy (o.k. maybe the word enjoy is a bit of a stretch...how about tolerate?) being outdoors and feeling my body push itself. As I turned into my neighborhood, finishing the miles I set out to run, I passed an old man. He had white hair, was somewhat overweight, and was walking with a cane. I felt proud of myself for accomplishing something that was hard for me to do and I also felt proud for that man who likewise, was accomplishing something difficult for him. I thought about how we are all at different levels and stages in our health and weight management, but as long as we are doing something, whatever is reasonable for ourselves, we can accomplish our goals.
So, here's my analogy: My run is like weight loss. It isn't always fun. Many times we want to quit...we even come up with lots of "good" reasons why we should. But, lets face it, I will never regret persevering and finishing those miles that I ran. And you will never regret the investment of time, money, and energy that you put into your weight loss efforts either. Because through your perseverance you WILL see results and that is what makes the difficult journey worth it in the end.
