Living in the Present

My life is a journey, not a destination. This weight loss journey that I am on is just one of the MANY things I'm doing with my life. I've said it so many times before in prior posts, "although, this weight loss journey is very important to me, I don't want it to consume me, there's so much more to me than just this - as encompassing as it is!!" From the very beginning it has been important to me that I do not miss out on life as I attempt to get healthy. I'm at a good place (very good place) in my life and now is the right time for me to be on this journey but at the same time, I am also enjoying life as I go along! I certainly will not let life just pass me by!!! I don't want to put anything on hold so that I achieve these goals. Because if I was to do that, what would I do when I achieved those goals? Where would I start? I'd be lost!!!

Don't get me wrong, I realize that I will have to make some major changes to my lifestyle, particularly with regards to my nutrition and physical activity and committment to this (and I HAVE) and I will continue to make those sacrifices BUT I won't sacrifice living.....I am enjoying my life, my family and my friends and my work, even as I go through this journey!! It's great! No regrets. I certainly don't want to look back in 7-8 months time, having reached my goals and be miserable due to the things I've missed out on!! What brought these thoughts on, you may ask? Well I'll tell you.

I bumped into one of my old friends today; haven't seen her in about 2 years! She was so pleasantly surprised when she saw the change in my physical appearance...she complimented me over and over and wanted to know what I was doing. We grabbed a seat and I proceeded to fill her in about the whole journey/blog experience. It was really nice. We were having such a good time. Anyway, we started talking about old times. I asked how her sister was and it's then that the mood of our conversation changed. "Oh crap", I thought to myself...."something's wrong, I hope her sister is okay!"

She then started filling me in that her sister (who was always a bigger girl, like me) had lost all of the weight!! She did it using the South Beach Diet and running (she ran 5K's, 10K's and was even training for a half marathon). "WOW", I exclaimed, "that's amazing". "So why so glum", I asked. Well she continued to fill me in.

In her words, her sister had become so obsessed with losing the weight that it was all she did, spoke of and lived. She cut off ties with many of her friends and even some family members. She stopped attending functions etc. This was all that she was about, losing the weight. Anyway, in a nut shell, this went on for about 9 months or so. It has been a little over year since her sister lost the weight and has now been battling depression. She even attempted suicide ...she said that she felt that after she lost the weight, it's almost like there was nothing else and at first it wasn't so bad but she just slipped further and further into depression. she's currently on medication and showing signs of things getting better.

I was truly stunned to hear all of this. I realize that this may be an extreme case (or maybe not, I don't know) but I just found it so sad. This is exactly what I don't want to happen to me and I don't think it would with me because I love life and people (especially my family and friends) and although I want to lose this weight, I really want to lose this weight, I DO NOT want to cut off my friends and family to do it. This does take a lot of time, effort, dedication, sacrifices and resources and I can see how it can get the best of you but I do not intend to let it!! I'm trying to get fit so that I can ENJOY LIVING even more than I currently do.

I always think back to a comment one of my new Facebook friends sent me, "Joania, if your head is right, your ass will follow!" It really is all about finding that balance and if you don't, you might get lost in the end, as was the case with my friend's sister.

Sorry for such a downer post but I really think it's important that I shared this with all of you, especially those of you on this journey with me or on journeys of your own and even those thinking of starting a journey. Stay true to who you are and live in the moment, enjoy the small accomplishments no matter what. I don't know, I'm no expert but it just makes sense to me that this weight loss thing (and everything else for that matter) should be about balance. I mean we all make mistakes but it's that big picture that matters in the end. Your overall accomplishment, right???

I would really love to hear your thoughts on this one, please feel free to post comments!

Thanks.

Until next time...

Joania (2KMINE!!!)