Thought For Today......

Today's thought is on obstacles...... The dictionary defines the word "obstacle" as something that interferes with or prevents action or progress. An obstacle is something, material or nonmaterial, that stands in the way of literal or figurative progress: Lack of imagination is an obstacle to one's advancement. An obstruction is something that more or less completely blocks a passage: A blood clot is an obstruction to the circulation. A hindrance keeps back by interfering and delaying: Interruptions are a hindrance to one's work. An impediment interferes with proper functioning: an impediment in one's speech.  Often times, when we feel unworthy, we sabotage our efforts in order to avoid meeting our goals. When we are obese, it is really easy to sabotage ourselves with obstacles.  We can talk ourselves out of doing just about anything.  Our children have soccer practice, so there is no time for me to walk today.......I walked for 15 minutes and therefore "deserve" a bowl of ice cream....I am just too busy to plan a healthy meal..... My children, spouse and job come first and one day it will be our turn.   Why is that?  Do we value everyone and everything around us more than we value ourselves? Well, I'm here to tell you that today is YOUR turn! In my past efforts to lose weight, I never made goal weight.  I was always 10 or 20 pounds away when I would just give up.  In talking to someone about it, we came to the conclusion that I did this to avoid the goal weight.  That psychologically I had a fear of not being able to maintain it, and would therefore feel like a failure.  So, I would put up my own obstacle and just avoid goal weight.  Before I decided to have weight loss surgery, I really had to get to the point where I had to admit that I HAD to do this to get healthy.  I felt like I could do it on my own and that weight loss surgery was a cop-out.  But, after much thought, I found that I was not like others.  I needed to lose well over 100 pounds.  This self denial was the largest obstacle that I had to overcome. As I have travelled down this path, I have had a few obstacles to overcome.  Obstacles that could have very well forced me back into my old habits.  Simple things like forgetting my lunch on the kitchen counter would send me to Burger King in the past, but now, with a plan of action, I can overcome that obstacle by eating something healthier from my desk or running to the store for something.  Learning that overeating will NOT fix the world's problems...not even in MY world. My key has been recognizing the obstacle and having the determination to overcome some of them.  Now, does that mean that I will never struggle with my obstacles?  HA - There will ALWAYS be an obstacle.....its life. Look around....we have MANY obstacles in our lives, and unless we move them we will never progress the way we are suppose to.  We NEVER meet our goals in health or otherwise.  So...think about the obstacles you have already overcome to be where you are today.  Relish in those successes.  Now, think about the obstacles that still lay ahead of you.  How can you overcome those obstacles in order to be the person you were meant to be?