Determined To Succeed

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.