Celebrating Little Victories!

Thank you all so much for your support. You don't know what it means to me.

In the last week, I have made a few huge changes. I already smile more!
I have joined a wonderful internet community, Sparkpeople.com. The website helps me keep track of my goals, nutrition and exercise. It also yields motivational lessons each day. This quote was delivered to my inbox today.
To be nobody but yourself--in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else-- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
- EE Cummings, poet

It has been a rocky week. Especially because the honest account of my life I left here was not taken well by some. It's OK. I'm OK. I am no longer ashamed to be sad sometimes. In hindsight, the moments I am disgustingly happy are made so much more sweeter by comparison. Without cold would we know the sun?

Anyway, I like the me I am becoming. She is pretty awesome. I finished "Sassafrass, Cypress, and Indigo" by Ntozake Shange this week. I am starting another one today. Not sure which one.

I start a new job next week. I will be tutoring middle school students after school. EXCITING! I get to do an enrichment activity at the end of each day. Got any great ideas?

I walked 2 miles today! and Monday I am headed to Curves(the fitness place not the strip club) for a consultation. I have a coupon for a free week! WHOO!

I am not completely changed, but I do want to make sure I celebrate the little victories that will lead me to a whole new me!

"If you don't like what you look like, change it"-Tyler Perry

The title of this post is so simple. When I first heard it, I instantly made excuses as to why it is not that simple. After being pissed off for way too long over the quote, I realized that I would have thought the same thing about 6 months ago. When I was happy, I told friends who were sad almost everyday that "life is simple if you let it be" Now, here I am complaining about a quote and telling myself that "once you get a job you will be happy" or "once you get your own place you will be able to loose weight." Waiting. I spend a lot of my time waiting and now I am choosing to stop. Why can't I work for my happiness? Why can't I change my own circumstances?
So I decided that I would give myself a year, maybe sooner, to change my life. I want a full life. These are the things that I will be working on:

1. I will read more and watch less television. I plan a book a month.
2. I will be more active. This means stopping my sedentary lifestyle.
   
3. I will make better food choices.
   
4. I will write more. I have a Creative Writing degree gathering dust.
   
5. I will meditate a few times a week.
   
6. I will read my Bible.
7. For every canned soda I drink, I will drink three glasses of water.
8. I will be honest to myself and others.

This is what I look like now. My before picture!
I am about 5'9" and weigh 312 pounds.

I believe in my heart that if I work on these things every day then in a year I can be 100 pounds lighter and emotionally a stranger to myself.


It is time for a change so today I choose life!