Don't think you can do it? I didn't think so either...

Wednesday, January 02, 2019

Remember Mt. St. OMG, that got shoved aside into other areas of the house for the holidays? Today I brought it back as a working area.

And as I was going through the papers in one of those boxes, I tripped over a hard copy of a blog from March 3, 2006. This was in my pre-Spark days. It is clear from what I wrote back then that I did not believe it was possible for me to become a healthy weight according to the charts.

In this blog on another platform, I was describing the wellness assessment done at my "new" gym. "Excess fat (44% body fat, I think was the number she measured, but I didn't get to bring that paper away, maybe it will show up in their computer system)."

My BMI was measured at 35.5! They wanted it to drop to 19 - 25 (the desirable range).

In my own words, back then, "I don't think I will ever get there, but hopefully I can get closer."

Well, folks... that was a loooong time ago. Today my BMI is sitting at 22.9, smack in the middle of that healthy, desirable range. I may have *other* issues that I'm still working on, but I'm proof that we can do things even if we don't believe we can!

So... keep Sparking, my friends. It makes a difference!    

Radio Silence

Originally published Friday, April 07, 2017

When you want neither sympathy nor advice... and you know you're not even going to listen to your own pep talk... yep, that's when radio (spark blog) silence takes over.

So you lurk, and you read the blogs of others, and you work on the fat between the ears. And pray for when the corner will be turned and "normal" and "sane", i.e. the healthy habits you've worked so hard on... become easy again. You marvel over things like "I'm tired of doing this" as though the thought were an alien! Or you puzzle over the boredom of sameness and wax nostalgic over indulgences that disappoint.

Ever notice that the spark blogs of the collective are kind of like biorhythms? When one or another of us is "down"... someone else may be at their strongest... and we feed on each other... eke our ways through our personal lows, seeing the future will return to the cycle's highs by reading.

In the end, you pull yourself OUT of your self-pity party (not much of a party, and I don't recommend inviting any friends to it)... and realize that the healthy habits are not something forced on you from without... they are YOU, now.

And life eventually comes back into balance and perspective... so that radio silence... was just the lap around the dark side of the moon... Apollo 13 is back on course for HOME!

* And the bag gets packed. And you eat what's in it, not the random junk that is floating in space.

* And you go to recess and realize that there's a lot going RIGHT, even in the radio silence.

* And you breathe, prioritize (stop trying to do it ALL, right now!), and delegate (stop trying to do it all YOURSELF)...

And you head out for yet another day, this time Friday, April 7th, 2017, realizing it's the only one you'll ever get. And you keep on Sparking!