It Never Get's "Less Hard" But it Does Get Easier and Better!

I get the question quite often "Isn't it SO much EASIER living life at a healthy weight?"

And the answer is more complex than a "Yes!" or "No, not really" can communicate.  So I will NOT disappoint you with a one or three word response, here goes!

Being morbidly class IV super obese was difficult.  It was the hardest thing in the world, it added a unique stress to my life and a unique sadness that can only be resolved by losing the weight.  The stress that was attributable TO THE WEIGHT, and the depression which was a result OF THE WEIGHT is gone.

But that doesn't mean that life has gotten any "less hard" or the choices I make on a daily basis don't require conscious effort.  It doesn't mean that I have somehow "crossed over" to a worry-free life of ease.

What I want to communicate is this:  If you are waiting for the weight loss to solve all of your problems in this world, think again.  YOU need to solve them. 

I realized that this journey brought up many deficiencies that existed in my character, deficiencies I had ignored all of my life....until I didn't anymore.  One of these deficiencies of character, something that I have had to continually (and painfully) practice with a view to mastery is the desire for instant gratification.  The lack of the will or the skill of putting off something I want NOW for something I want EVENTUALLY.

If I had to condense this ENTIRE JOURNEY of mine into one phrase, it really would be that I have been learning, through trial and error, pain and tears, that what I sow today will grow into something over time.  I am 100% in control of what that "something" is, and 100% responsible for it.  Is that something evidenced by a life of self-control and intentional living (after)?  Or is that something evidenced by a life of instant gratification and mindless eating (before)?

I choose the after.  I choose everything that comes with the after.  Even the hard stuff of the doing in the NOW what will LEAD to the after.  I want my AFTER to be sensational for me, stunning for me, I want to live a life of no regrets.  I want, in short, to show up for myself and to be my own hero in this story I am writing.

And that takes a decision every day of my life to move towards my primary goals of maintaining optimal health.  Heck, I wouldn't mind moving in to ULTRA health.  And I'm working on that.

So yes everything that WAS hard at 272 pounds IS easier at 142.  Absolutely it is.  But now I have a new kind of hard, which is making that decision every day to CONTINUE to do what it takes to live the life I want to live.  You see, I'm 2.5 years into this process.  But I had a day 1 too, August 1st, 2010.  That was THE day I made the decision to begin.  Because that decision has to happen, and then we DO it.

So wherever you are on your time-line, do your ultimate best today.  Not hoping "things" get easier, because "things don't change, people do".  And get ready for the ride of your life.