As You Are Now...So Shall You Be

How you manage yourself today, how you stay on plan or don't stay on plan, this is how you will BE in 3-6 months.

So many times prior to FINALLY changing my mind about my health I would say "well, just this little thing, just this once, I'll do better tomorrow."

There is NO tomorrow.  There IS only today.  And how you manage yourself, TODAY, whether it is in your spending decisions or your eating decisions, is THE NUMBER ONE determiner of where you will be next year at this time.

Are you still making excuses in the break room when the treats are brought in?  Then next year you will likely be as big or BIGGER than you are TODAY.  NO MATTER WHAT YOUR INTENTIONS ARE.

Intentions DON'T count.  Actions do.

"But I didn't MEAN to stay fat all year...."

Yes, but how did you ACT all year? 

"But I didn't MEAN to be in so much consumer debt from last year to this year....."

Yes, but how did you SPEND all year?

For me, spending and weight management have been the most challenging issues of personal growth I have had to tackle in my adult life.  For me, the issues surrounding BOTH are similar, they stemmed from a lack of impulse control.  Wanting what was in front of me REGARDLESS of how it would effect my body or my pocketbook.

Why do we do that? 

Many times those of us who struggle with spending and/or weight have a very SHORT TERM view of things.  We really only analyze things according to how they will make us feel RIGHT NOW.  TODAY.  We don't give too much thought to consequences.  For me, I kinda felt like a perpetual teenager.  Live NOW!  Do what I WANT!

Only I found that my WANTS didn't go beyond NOW.  And I ended up 272 pounds and in massive credit card debt, and not much to show for it.  Stuff.  Just stuff.  Stuff on my outsides (from the spending) and stuff on my insides (fat). 

Both were symptoms of the idea of EXCESS.  Of ACCUMULATING more than I NEEDED.  Another word for it would be HOARDING. 

I hoarded things, and I hoarded calories.  That is a conclusion I came to as I began to lose the weight, and simultaneously began giving things to Goodwill on a MASSIVE scale to de-clutter my outward environment.

I began to see the big WEIGHT that I had willingly placed on my outsides and my insides with this mentality, and I began to see the freedom that could be had with shedding both.

There is a book I love to read every once in awhile called "The Simpler Life" by Deborah DeFord.  Here is a paragraph/exerpt I wanted to share:

"Practice the art of composting.  Inevitably as we live more intentionally, we discover habits and attitudes that don't belong in a life simply lived.  We cling to them because they're familiar and therefore comfortable or because we are lazy and don't want to exert the energy required to change them.  Or, conversely, we grab them by the neck and enact murder, full of indignation and self-criticism.  Personally, I prefer to consider old, outdated thoughts and actions along an organic model.  They've had their day, for better or worse, and now they're like a garden's stubble.  We can plow them under and allow them to decompose without rancor.  In that way they come to enrich the living material of our present and future."

I love this.  I need this.  I moved away from those habits of disease, both the inward AND the outward manifestations of those habits of disease clearly present on my person and my surroundings, and I plowed them under.  They had their day.  They served the purpose of experience.  Who I USED to be is now fueling, in a way, who I am with clear intention.

I don't despise the old me, I don't hate her or wish she had never existed, she was ME!  I was HER!  I have simply changed, and I have shed those habits that did not serve me anymore, didn't serve my happiness, my contentment, or my inner peace.  And boy has it made all the difference.

Remember that what you do TODAY will determine the direction you head, in BOTH the areas of health AND finances. 

As you are NOW, so shall you BE.  If you practice habits of health, and healthy spending TODAY, then your outside situation (both your body and your financial situation) will reflect that over time.

Conversely, if you practice habits of disease and overspend today also, over time your body and your financial situation will reflect that inner reality.

Which do you prefer?  Start TODAY.  =)

Rinse and Repeat!