Determined To Succeed

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OK. I think I see waaaaaaay too many movies sometimes.

Last night I had the strangest dream. I was entered as a driver in a city-wide race involving vehicles that were a cross between motorcycles, big wheels and go-carts (please don’t ask).

Anyway, I somehow knew these car/bike thingies were going to go super fast so I asked the guy on my team “how will I know where I’m going?” He told me “follow the course. It’s laid out.” I shrugged as I still knew I didn’t know the course, or the rules, or even how to completely operate my tricked-out big wheel.

Then, I was led to the starting line. But what made this interesting was that participants in this race were lined up along three of the four streets that lead to a city intersection. The fourth street was the beginning of the course. So we’d line up and get ready only to be told we’d have time before the race so everyone, for some reason, went on with life – gearing up for the race and not worried about it. Except for me. I wanted to get ready and get set, even though I had no idea of where I was going.

Then the race started. I was a bit slow but followed the convergence of cars from the other directions along the path. The city was a combination of Philadelphia (the area in which I live now) and Chicago (my beloved hometown). I knew I wasn’t operating the vehicle right because it wasn’t going as fast as it should be but I was OK with that. I was winding my way through uncharted territory…

…then I woke up.

Damn, that was a straaaaaaaaange dream.  And it’s not the first time I had a dream like that. But this time it was more vivid, more real. And the more I think about it it’s the perfect dream leading into the first full work day of 2010.

We all face a brand new year full of possibility and opportunity. And sometimes that road is a scary thing. You don’t know how to get where you are going but you’re in the race to get there. And so many of us can equate that to many aspects of our lives, particularly weight loss. You know the goal you want. You know your finish line but you have no stinking clue as to the road you need to take to get there. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. I didn’t either.

I didn’t know if what I was doing, how I was doing it or if/how I am continuing to do it would work. But that’s the thing about finding the path. You know it’s the way when you do. Your gut tells you, or your mind tells you, or your intuition. No matter how you know you push through and navigate as best you can, especially when things are coming at you fast and furious (ly).

As you start today remember a couple of things, OK? That you will get to your goal no matter how scary it seems and no matter how unfamiliar the path. Your drive and determination, instinct and experience will help guide you. You have the strength of other team members helping you along the way (your friends and me). Most of all, you have your own strength to help carry you and fuel you toward that weight loss success.

Like I said it was a strange dream, indeed, but so very appropriate as we all re-enter the rat race of a brand new year.

My friends, yesterday was a rough day. It was the six-month anniversary of my mother’s passing and in between bouts of crying and working I thought about food. I am weak when it comes to food. I don’t know what it is about food but I am. It soothes me. It is there (actually it’s always there). It warms me and fills me. The thing I always have to remind myself of is that feeling it always leaves when the eating is over. Like yesterday when I woke up with that food hangover. The party’s over. Reality sets in. It is like alcoholism.

On days like yesterday I sit at my desk, or lie awake in bed, and find myself this/close to putting food into my mouth. And there is never any better reason other than it’s there. Food is there. I don’t even know what to eat. Just something that sounds palatable would be good enough. But at those times I have to remember the more I do that the more I do a disservice to myself and those that support me in this weight loss journey.

And because I like to look for encouragement (who doesn’t) I wanted to “pay it forward” and offer you, my friends, some words of encouragement when you feel as weak as I know I do and food comes a callin’. And these are not my words. No. They are words from famous people that I hope help you to see that when we feel weak, even when we fail, have a setback, whatever, people understand and people are there. Remember, failures are never permanent unless we let them be permanent. And we will always experience setbacks and failures on our way to achieving our ultimate success.

We really are all in this together. You are human, and so am I.

“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” – Truman Capote

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Alva Edison

“Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.” – Anais Nin

I feel that the most important requirement in success is learning to overcome failure. You must learn to tolerate it, but never accept it. —Reggie Jackson

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.—Langston Hughes

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” – Shel Silverstein

“Courage allows the successful woman to fail and learn powerful lessons from the failure so that in the end, she didn’t fail at all.” – Maya Angelou

“I can accept failure, but I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan

“Notice the difference between what happens when a man says to himself, ‘I have failed three times’ and what happens when he says, I’m a failure.” – S. I. Hayakawa

“Thoughts are things; they have tremendous power. Thoughts of doubt and fear are pathways to failure. When you conquer negative attitudes of doubt and fear you conquer failure. Thoughts crystallize into habit and habit solidifies into circumstances.” – Bryan Adams

“If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” – Mary Pickford