Determined To Succeed

Hey there, my friends. How is everyone on this Monday morning? Well, I hope. You must be asking yourself “Why is he so chipper?” Well, I just got back from working out and an egg and cheese wrap for breakfast. It was tasty and a good protein way to start my day. I have found that working out in the morning helps increase my activity during the day (and yes, gets it out of the way). As of today I am also within three pounds of re-reaching my goal weight of 225lbs and I am so happy.

But that is not why I am writing today.

I am writing to everyone today to let you guys know about a bit of holiday healing I did over the weekend. And it was all due to the snow that fell in the east on Saturday afternoon/evening. As I sat in the late afternoon watching the sky turn a beautiful, muted blue the snow was coming down in huge flakes. Neighbors of mine came out and were catching the flakes on their tongues. A neighbor dog ran and played (before it got a bit too cold). It was beautiful and just what I needed to help begin snapping the holiday funk I’ve been in.

Most of you know I lost my mom almost six months ago. When you lose someone time loses meaning. It has no definition. One minute it feels like an eternity has passed, the next minute it feels like yesterday. I have the coincidence of four major events in a row – Thanksgiving, my birthday, Christmas and my mom’s birthday – one right after the other. And during this time of year there is nothing like the sound of my mom’s voice saying “happy birthday, son” or just shootin’ the bull during the holiday season when the weather outside turns frightful.

The snow on Saturday helped me to “feel” the holidays for the first time this year. It reminded me to enjoy the season and its beauty. Like many people, there are days when all I want to do is hide. Crawl away and let the world pass by, like a train at the station. I don’t want to follow through the day’s routines, and I certainly don’t want to exercise or even deal with people. There are sooooooo many times when my couch comes a callin’ and it’s an irresistible call – especially when some good distracting TV is on.

My mom’s passing has been hard, as it is for all those who lose loved ones and have to “celebrate” the first holiday season, birthday, anniversary, etc. without them. I do my best to not let that funk get me down but it does. I am human. And when I get funky I tend to eat. But something happened last weekend. I didn’t overeat. I thought about not letting cancer beat me and my mom twice and I didn’t order Chinese food. I went to exercise yesterday morning.

I know that this is hard some days. Believe me, exercising and cutting back on certain foods is the pits especially when you’re blue. But know in your hearts you have come such a long way and you have done so well for yourself. I hope to keep that covenant to you, too, and stay as true as humanly possible to my weight loss journey as well.

So, my friends, take some of my strength today. Take some of those endorphins (or however you spell it) and energy that I mustered from working out today and use it to help you power through today. We are all in this together, even if you are also dealing with hurt and pain this holiday season. And if you need a word of encouragement I am here, too. Just drop me a line through this website.

No matter what, just know you are all amazing and like all of us on this weight loss journey, it’s OK to have the batteries run low every now and then.