I won an iPod shuffle!

I’m understanding many things about life right now..To get through it one has to become quite the athlete.

There are hurdles to jump, bridges to cross, rivers to swim and most certainly, many mountains to climb. Some mountains are bigger than others… some so large they seem impossible to climb and therefore it seems quite pointless to even take the very first step. But if we give up before we even try then where does that put us? Still right at the beginning… treading water.

One significant thing I have learned this past year, what this weight loss experiment and personal journey has solidified, is that, IF you want to succeed, make changes, move forward, change your body, indeed change your life, you have really do have to make CHANGES.

Now I accept that to lose weight and become a healthier, happier person, I will have to WORK VERY HARD to achieve it. There is no magical solution. The change HAS to come from within me as a person. I have to be willing to say no to the food that makes me fat, and each and every day decide I am the only person in charge of my destiny.

Today I started week 3 of the “Couch to 5k” (C25K) program. 5 kilometres seems like a mountain right now but that mountain seemed a LOT bigger just 21 days ago when my brain was reminding me that just a year ago I could barely walk a short distance from the car park to the grocery store and that I hadn’t ran in 23 years and that I STILL was obese….Luckily my heart won, it magnetically drew me towards taking a chance, to TRYING… And today I was running for 3 minutes at 5 mph, walking briskly at 4 mph then running again at 5 mph and continued this for my 30 minutes session. I DID IT! ANOTHER SMALL TRIUMPH!

Was it hard? Did it hurt? Hell yes, of course it did! But now I have fully accepted responsibility I know these are the things I have to do… And just minutes later, as my pulse rate dropped, and I blasted the cool air from the table fan on my face, those endorphins kicked in and I simply beamed with a sense of achievement.

And something else wonderful happened that boosted my feelings of wellbeing… I WON AN IPOD SHUFFLE!! Yes… pinch me! It is PERFECT for my “couch to 5 K” podcasts and I have loaded them up and I clipped the iPod shuffle to my bra and hit the treadmill.

All these positive re-enforcements are helping me tackle some huge personal issues in my immediate future. Sometimes the road seems so long and the horizon bleak but I know in life the weather ALWAYS breaks and the sunshine peeps through, draping the clouds in silver and kissing the faces of those who look towards it.

KEEP GOING… YOU CAN DO IT xxxxxxxxxx