Getting to a better place...

It's been nearly a month since I last blogged. I think today I'll talk about dieting. Here's Fluffy's take on it...

It's been a challenge to try and lose weight with all the changes in my life. But I won't kid you... dieting has never been easy. Not for me.

The older I get the more important it seems to get this extra weight off. It used to be a vanity thing. I wanted to look better. I wanted my clothing to fit. I had this image in my mind, probably something right out of Hollywood, and I wanted so much to look like one of the beautiful people.

Now that I'm older it's gone way past looking good. I'll never look like one of the beautiful people because they are all younger than I am. But now it's a health issue. My weight has pushed me into a category with health risks. I'm taking pills to lower my blood pressure and cholesterol. Diabetes, which runs in my family, lurks around the corner. Carrying around the extra pounds makes everything I do so much more of an effort.

As Fluffy says, it's hard no matter what, so choose your hard.

I've used up more days on earth than days I have left on earth. If I'm ever going to do this, lose the weight, I need to do it now. I'm in the process of choosing a plan I can live with. No more on-again off-again diets for me with yo-yo affects to the weight. The dust's been blowing around and now what I'm settling in on is a livable, workable, doable plan of moderation. Just how "moderate" I need to get is up for debate. I'm attempting to learn to live with less on my plate, to get through the day without grazing, and to resist "medicating" or "tranquilizing" with food. Chocolate is not really my best friend.

I'm trying to believe that pain doesn't always have to be the enemy. An organization called O.A. has a saying, "Pain is the admission price to a new life."

They are referring to the discomfort we feel in being hungry, the mental agony from pushing away from the table when we aren't fully satisfied, the nail biting effects of resisting the temptation to munch away the afternoon. Jane Fonda used to put it, "No pain, no gain."

So there you have it. The window into my life today is all about getting to a better place. A place of better health. A place with more energy. A place where the clothes are a smaller number.

Chirps

Teddy bears and prickly pears

That phone call last summer was the beginning of a journey to places unknown.

Sometimes I feel
like I'm walking
on a desert path
on a moonless night
with no lantern
and no cell phone.

It's slow going, lest I stumble smack into a teddy bear cholla or a prickly pear cactus.

And then there's the eerie coyote howls off in the distance that send chills up and down my spine.

What will I do if a coyote crosses my path?

What if there are two?
What if three?

Do I wave my arms wildly and holler?

Do I run the other way?

Do I drop and play dead on the desert floor?

Who could I talk to who's been there, done that?

Can I Google it and come up with anything actually helpful?

There's a wonderful song by Ira Forest Stanphill that has become very close to my heart:

I don't know about tomorrow;
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to grey.
I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said.
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.

Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.

Not to say I've managed to implement everything from this song into my life, but it gives me goals - like trying not to worry about tomorrow, or like have confidence that He's always with me, and I'm not alone in this.

To be continued...