I almost forgot

While jogging today, I made the decision that I would jog the whole stretch that I've been doing the last few days- I would jog there and back and I decided to about half-way there. Then I realized my body is getting tired. You know the feeling when your body is clearly able to go farther and the tiredness will go in just a bit? Knowing that this tiredness was just a feeling that originates from my lazy, "if you go this far now, you'll have to go this far every time.. you don't want to start doing that now!" I changed my focus. Literally. Normally I'm looking pretty much straight ahead. I would put my focus on getting to the end, to be finished and done. I changed my focus, instead of looking at my goal and getting discouraged because "it looks so far away!" I looked to the 10 feet ahead of me. I can jog those 10 feet. It was a mental game with myself.

Focusing on just jogging the 10 ft in front of me, then the next 10, and on and on till I knew I was closing in on my goal made it not only easier, it made it more enjoyable too. I checked my form frequently, applying some tips I found and made sure to keep my gaze about 10 feet in front of me. It was tempting near the end to look up more and set my eyes on the final goal. Looking at the goal was something that would be counter-productive for me, I just didn't do it until it was in my 10ft gaze. Reaching the stop light where my goal was I felt good, I mean really good. Mentally I was stronger, and of course physically too.

As I was jogging I realized that looking at the "final goal" for me and no doubt others, isn't the best thing. It seems too hard, difficult and there is so much WORK to do to reach that goal, especially when it comes to weight-loss. It's easy to look at where I want to be and be discouraged and mentally give-up. My body "felt" tired and I could have walked the rest of the way, yet my body and I am were still capable of so much more. Weight-loss takes time which is has always been the killer for me. I get lost in the process because I've always been focused on the goal, the end, the destination. Hello! Good health isn't a destination. Good health is like keeping my gaze 10 ft ahead to keep jogging- it's small progress.

Since Day One on this blog I have shifted my focus to developing healthy habits: working out regularly, watching what I eat, taking a multi-vitamin, drinking lots of water; and ditching bad ones: being lazy, eating junk food, binging and emotional eating. Overtime I may reach my goal weight, which would be great- it's just the main point is becoming healthy and developing healthy habits. Makes me think how many other ways this analogy applies?