Faith in Change

I’m 4 yrs. old sitting on the beach in Southern California.  It’s 1965, I’m watching my uncle surf with his buddies.  I have a transistor radio playing Beatles music.  I’m daydreaming about the future, my future.  I knew that day that anything was possible and I could do whatever I wanted in life.

surferkid © Tim Pannell Photography

I daydreamed a lot as a kid.  Heck, I daydream a lot as an adult.  I’ve noticed that the better or more optimistic I feel, the better quality of daydreams I have.  If my expectations aren’t that great, I aim lower.

My expectations are based on my past experiences.  When I experience great success, it’s easy to believe it’ll continue as long as I keep doing the same things that brought me that success.  The problem is when I experience set backs or “failures”.

“I’ve been down this road before” is a common phrase among overweight people trying to get in shape.  It implies that they tried or attempted something before and that this time the results can only be the same……….lousy.   I don’t care for that phrase.  It’s a “faith killer.”

The reality is that this time today is completely different than the last time I made an attempt to get in shape.  I can attempt to do the exact same things, but it’s still not “the same road”.  I’m older, hopefully wiser.  I’m better informed and I’m more motivated than I was the last time I gave this a shot.

I’m making some adjustments today. The last time I tried to get in shape,  I lost 70 pounds by going on a vegan diet.  It worked great for about 3 months and then I couldn’t keep up with the strict “rules” of what I could and could not eat.  i slowly added “forbidden foods” back into my diet.  I kept the weight off for 3 years, but eventually I gained back 50 pounds.

I know that there are many people that have found vegan-ism to be the answer to their prayers.  I’m not one of those people.  I do believe that we are all unique and that one approach or one size doesn’t fit all.  My job, if you will, is to find out what works for me.  I know that I need to find a solution that I can live with everyday for the rest of my life.  This will lead me to success this time around.

I’ve daydreamed about being fit again.  I remember being a kid and running around with my 6-pack abs.  In 10th grade I did 1240 situps in 42 minutes on a dare.  I daydream about getting back to that level of fitness.  I see how much difference it will make in my life to be healthy again and I will succeed this time around.  I have faith.  I’ll act.  I’ll succeed…then I’ll have gained knowledge.  Pretty cool ride, huh?