Just Doing It. On taking back control.

Thanks to my friend Amanda for showing me this cute pic.
So I guess I’m not starting the HCG this Monday after all. Due (ironically due to the title of this post)  to circumstances beyond my control rather than a lack of desire. Past experience has taught me that there are more and (much) less optimal times of the month to embark upon the HCG, and call me wimpy but I’m going with more optimal this time. The other way is just no fun for anyone. BUT, today is a big day anyway. Healthy choices. No more excuses.
The delay of the official start of HCG does give me a little more time to put together a Momedy-Sketch Community Shape Up Challenge. Several people have indicated their enthusiasm for such a plan and I think it will be fun. Watch this space. It’s going to be good.
But first a pep talk.
Yesterday I had a discussion with the cool young people  I hang with at church about free agency. Basically we talked about the fact that God intends, desires, actually commands us to ACT rather than be ACTED UPON. To determine our own destiny, to make life, learning and progress happen for us rather than hoping waiting and wondering when it will happen to us.
God gave us free agency as the key to growth and progress. When we are acted upon, when we wait for things to happen TO us, we are not using our precious agency.  We are not really living.
Guess what guys? Getting fit and slim doesn’t just happen out of the blue. Well getting fit certainly doesn’t. Occasionally getting thinner does, but it’s usually not for a good reason when it does.  It takes a great deal of intention. INTENTION. Willpower. Planning. Determination. Contingency planning, back up planning, back up to back up planning. Hard work, more hard work, and support.
Notice I harped on planning. Just like any other major endeavor in life, planning is critical to the success of a major and sustainable change in lifestyle. You have got to plan  what you will eat, when you will shop for and prepare what you will eat. What you will eat instead when that first option is not available, what you will eat when you are feeling sad or frustrated or hormonal, what you will eat when you are in a hurry.  You have to plan when you will exercise. And how you will get yourself to exercise when you are not in the mood (which for most people is pretty much every time). You have to plan your workouts themselves,  where you will work out, where you will work out when the first location is unavailable for any reason. You have to plan the clothing you will wear (this is so, so so critical…so many exercise sessions have been derailed by a missing tennis shoe or jogging bra). You have to plan for babysitters, for busy days, for tired days, even for under the weather days.  If you really want to increase your chances of  being successful, you have to plan who to exercise with.
Last night I asked Aaron when he thought I was going to “get with it” again.  When he asked what I meant, I said, “ you know…take control of my life again?”
I know the answer to that. I’ll take control of my life whenever I choose to take control. I’ve been subconsciously or rather, semi-consciously been waiting for some external force to come along and motivate me to take back the control. To break through the invisible barriers I have set up in my own way.  And life passes.
Like so many people I am completely stricken over the news of the murder of Oscar Pistorious’ girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. When I heard the news, it felt so personal for some reason. I just remember the sensation of my arms going weak. I felt completely shocked and deflated. It was surreal.  This beautiful, vibrant young woman whose life had been full of so much potential, who seemed so genuinely excited about the prospect of the next day, had been snuffed out before she got to see it.  In the most gruesome way imaginable.  My sister is a reporter in South Africa and has had the opportunity to be quite up close and personal with this case. Something she mentioned led me to read this girls twitter feed in her last days. As ghoulish as that sounds (and probably is). I was struck by the fact that she seemed well loved and that she loved well.  She seemed kind and engaged. She lived her life well. Enthusiastically and fully. and that must be some comfort (if there can be any comfort at a time like this) to those who loved her.
Mostly though I was struck by how normal she was. How she said the types of things I would say, how she seemed to have no foreshadowing whatsoever of what was to be.   The truth is she could be any of us. None of us know how many tomorrows we have. Sitting around waiting for some external form of motivation to come along (even if this did in some flukey way work for us in the past)  is a trap. It’s a waste of today. It’s a waste of the beautiful hours we have been so generously gifted with today to make something more of ourselves.
Today we have everything we need to “get it together”. We can choose to take steps to refine ourselves, to feel more fully alive, to love ourselves more, to be more comfortable in our skin, to feel more confident in our abilities,  to experience more joy, to help others experience more joy. WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?
This has been one of my favourite quotes since I was a little girl.

What are you just going to do today? How are you taking back control?

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