Baby Steps…

I suffer from a disease called “I’mdoingitsoitshouldhappenrightnow.”  Have you heard of it?  You might even suffer from it yourself.  I’ve suffered from this for many years… as long as I can remember.  The onset of the disease brings great excitement to change something – mainly physical things.  I think I have the dieting strain.  I get all pumped up to start a plan or begin to exercise!  That’s the upside of my disease.  Within the first 24 hours is when the symptoms begin to rear their ugly head.  First, I am drawn to look in the mirror or stand on the scale.  Next, I become very discouraged because I have not reached my goal weight or gone down several pants sizes.  Then the discouragement sets in.  This is the ugly part of the disease.  The effects of this discouragement cause me to stop all good things I am doing for myself and go back to the way things were before.  Two steps forward… one mile back.  When you’ve suffered from this disease as long as I have, making any forward progress in life gets to be more difficult with time.

Years ago, I watched the movie What About Bob.  Crack me up!  That movie is good for what ales you!  You’ve gotta laugh with Bob as he tries to work through his issues!  He learns from his therapist to take “baby steps.”  He won’t change overnight, but with baby steps and perseverance, it will eventually happen.  

I’ve applied this idea to many aspects of my life.  Baby steps partnered with the famous line from Finding Nemo – “just keep movin’,” and one can begin to see progress and change.  The one compartment of my life that I struggle with this application is the diet/exercise/weight loss arena (and I say arena because this is a huge area in my life!).  It haunts me every day and has for my entire life.  I think I was born fat!  It is a struggle that weighs heavily on me every moment of every day… no pun intended!  I did not get fat overnight so why do I think I will lose it all and be the perfect weight overnight?  Is that realistic?  I want the cure instantly… maybe in the form of a pill or liquid… and then my life will be perfect!  Ha!  We all know that is not the case!  

I need to apply the idea of baby steps to my new journey I am beginning today.  With my Bodybugg attached to my arm and my vision set on living a long and healthy life, I set out to take this one day at a time… maybe even one hour at a time… and just keep movin’… literally!  Somehow I have the silly notion that I can lose weight and get to my perfect size overnight all without doing anything physical!  I know, right?????  So, here’s to baby steps and continuous movement (literally) forward… even if it feels like I am swimming upstream against the flow!