I lived there for much of my childhood, indeed my adult life also. Where did I live?
Short-Term-Visionville.
My address was "1, Bite Won't Matter Street" which was on the corner of Instant Gratification Way.
I don't live there anymore.
When
did I move? I moved away from there 4 years ago, although I do admit
to occasionally finding myself back there, you know when you drive on
autopilot and find yourself at your OLD house? Yes, sometimes I do that
too with my journey.
But now I live in a different place. I call a different place home.
So enough analogy, let's get down to what I am even talking about.
When
I had what I will call "fat brain" I rarely tied my daily actions to
long-term consequences. I lacked foresight, by choice, because frankly I
liked food too much to get pull my head out of the sand and take a good
hard look at where my choices were taking me.
Then I complained
about where my choices HAD taken me. Oh, was I a good complainer. I
complained about how I didn't have enough TIME to do anything about my
health (and then refused to MAKE or TAKE the time). I complained about
how EXPENSIVE eating healthy ALL THE TIME was (myth). I complained
about how my feet hurt from plantar fasciitis, and how my back hurt from
being compressed with 140 extra pounds that I didn't need. I
complained about how I felt in the morning when I woke up, physically. I
was usually disappointed in myself upon waking, feeling guilty for
letting yet another day pass by where I wasn't doing anything to help my
health.
That was a dark time in my life. From age 23 to age 40 are really just a conglomeration of feeling sorry for myself.
What changed?
I
decided that I was going to fight for ME. I decided that I wasn't
going to let fate or genes or the part of me that felt like a failure
determine the direction of my life ANY MORE. I took control. I took
the pen and decided to write and alternate storyline. After all, I'm
the author of my story, right?
Here's how my story looks now, since I got hold of that pen:
*I make a living helping other people create health in their lives
*I work from home and have time to spend with my family
*I
am "fit as a fiddle" so says my Mayo Clinic Cardiologist who recently
signed a "permission slip" of sorts for the Marathon I'm running in 4
weeks
*I have a closet full of clothes that FIT and nothing that does NOT for the first time in my entire life
*I greet the day with a smile and a joyful heart full of gratitude
*I smile at strangers
Learning
to tie my daily actions to long-term consequences was a key part of the
change that had to take place in my life. And this has had benefits
not only in my physical health, but also my financial health and my
emotional health and even my spiritual health! It is a great skill to
develop, I highly recommend it.
How do you develop it?
Well,
take any action or habit that you currently have. Whether you love it
or hate it. Now, think "what will my life be like if I repeat this
action daily for the next 2 weeks, 2 years, 5 years, etc?"
Do you
like the "results" of examining that habit? Then keep the habit! It
is a good one! Does your heart cry "NOOOOOO!" when you telescope a
particular habit out to next week or next year? Then look at changing
that habit, it isn't doing you any good.
And always remember, as
Robin Sharma says, "Seemingly small improvements, practiced daily,
produce stunning results over time" and conversely, "Seemingly small
neglects, practiced daily, produce tragic results over time".
My question to YOU and to ME is simply this: "Do I want stunning results or tragic results?"
I think the answer is pretty clear. I choose stunning.
When people ask me "how long did it take you" with my health journey, my new answer is "one day at a time".
Rinse and Repeat!
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