Make an Unusual Choice

Something’s been bothering me about my blog of late…it’s all about me. You guys probably noticed this a long time ago, but it has just dawned on me recently. As Eddie Izzard would say “God save the Queen? That is one saved fucking queen…” I am a saved queen myself. Although I have ups and downs (like anyone), I have done a pretty good job of keeping this 65 pounds off for some time now, and I don’t really need to be writing a blog that’s all about my own trials and tribulations.

So I want this blog to have a new direction: towards you! I want to use what little knowledge I’ve acquired to help you readers out there, to help you make changes in your own lives, and to love life a little more (and this change has been reflected in my new profile blurb on the right).

Of course, let’s be honest: there will still be plenty of whining and self-talk here, but now the whining and self-talk will be more geared to helping you. If you think that doesn’t sound like much of a change, you’re probably right.
But I’m going to do my best.

So, here’s my first attempt.

Make an Unusual Choice

I was out walking through the woods today (with a 70% chance of intermittent jogging), and I was thinking. To choose to change clothes at lunchtime, get my iPod loaded up, lace up my shoes, and go outside today was an unusual choice for me. I haven’t made that choice for even one day in the last month, but today I did. I can’t say for sure what made me make that choice, but I know telling several people I was going to do it made a big difference.

Life is just a series of choices. I’m pretty sure that’s a famous quote by someone. We make choices all day long, and they all lead to other choices. One day you make a choice that you later regret (like having 3 beers on a weeknight, for example, or eating half of an entire pizza). The next day, with that choice to go on, you make another choice that you end up regretting.

I have a suggestion: make an unusual choice! Do something you wouldn’t normally do. And if you want to change your life, make a lot of choices in a row that you wouldn’t normally make. My whole healthy journey started like this one day back in August 2009. I was so screwed up at that time, didn’t know how to make myself obedient to my own wishes… I decided that all I could do was make new choices. Here are a few that I remember making in that first 24 hours:

• Chose to go to the grocery store at lunchtime, to buy healthy food to stock my office with, rather than going to McDonald’s.

• Chose to go to a Pampered Chef party on a week night, leaving Bryan and the kids to fend for themselves for a few hours – this doesn’t sound like a healthy choice? Well, it taught me to practice taking time for myself when I need it.

• Chose to accept an invitation to go to a garden and reap a lot of free veggies instead of stay home in the a/c and play a video game.

• Chose to take a walk with my dog.

This is a challenge for you, Dear Reader! Go out today, make an unusual choice, and come back here and let me know how it made you feel. Do it just once, and see if it doesn’t lead to you wanting to do it again.