January Sucks. I mean sucks. It’s cold. I can’t run outside. I hate my job, my house, my car, my………..I always want everything to change in January.
Every year you think it’s going to get better right? A clean slate! A new year! Everything resets……..right? The real truth is, if you keep making the same decisions you’ve always made, you’re life will always be the same. The real truth is, if you don’t change anything, nothing will change. The real truth is that January 1st is no different than December 31st. I was just as morbidly obese at the end of 2011 as I was at the beginning of 2012. But for the first time, I was willing to do something real about it.
5 years ago, I was standing on my bathroom scale mortified. I had ALWAYS promised myself that I would never see a number on the scale that started with a 3. NEVER would I see 300 pounds. Well, that day, or shortly after, I hit 285. What was I going to do? How was I going to get things going in the right direction? It was then that I made a commitment to change.
I first looked at my life and realized I had no goals, no direction. Of course I had a career path but I was really just ticking the hours away, day in and day out, with big macs in the middle. Nothing in my life was inspirational or motivating me to better myself. The first decision that I made was to change my location. I looked at my life in the Midwest and realized it did not fit my ideal lifestyle. I wanted my life to be filled with adventure and excitement and I was heading for death via cheeseburgers and having my skin attach itself to a couch cushion. That’s when I made the decision to move to Colorado. When I say ‘I made the decision’, that’s what I mean. ‘We’ (my hubby and I) didn’t. I did. I told him he could come if he wanted to but I was going.
I know how that sounds. I know that seems selfish. BUT, I knew I could love him better. I knew I could offer him more. I knew that I was holding him back, even if he never would have admitted it. I also knew that if I didn’t change, our lives together would be cut short and full of…….nothing. I think it was that decision that got me to where I am. Now, I made the decision in 2012. That summer we moved to Colorado. It would still take many years for me to lose the weight and get to where I am now. But that decision, standing on my bathroom scale created a domino effect that has now saved me life. So………
What decision can you make today that will set you up for the future? Even if you can’t advance toward that goal or change very much in this moment, what decision will you make? The clock is ticking.