Wednesday Review AND BONUS POST!!!

Uh-oh! Looks like SOMEONE has been falling a bit short on her "I'll Tweet three times a day for you" pledge....Only a few tweets worthy of a listing (read them, and I'll toss in a little insight afterward...)

* When you've lost 5lbs, pick up a 5lb bag of sugar & carry it around your house for 5 minutes. 5lbs is NOT small! 5lbs, makes a difference!

* I leave the table when finished with my dinner. My kids can clear their own places & it keeps my from EATING when I've already FED myself

* Mike brought home dessert from my favorite bakery. I ate 1/4 of a serving BEFORE dinner. MY family finished the rest AFTER I left the table

Ok.

That's Three.

Three little Tweets to re-post for review, this week.

There were a few other things I tweeted, but they were mostly about blogs I'd posted or requests for YOU to pass the word about this blog or sign up, or blah, blah, blah.

In my opinion, not much to RE-POST or worth taking up your time...

I COULD feel like a failure for NOT posting three times a day.

I COULD feel like I have let you down, and beat myself up with guilt about it.

I COULD feel like I bit off more than I could chew by even committing to do three.

I COULD start to reconsider the WHOLE entire Twitter thing.

I COULD begin to doubt that it even makes a difference.

I COULD begin to wonder if ANYONE even notices the Tweets, or this blog, or the page I've

started on Facebook.

I COULD begin to think about YOU, and judge you, I mean....if you had actually NOTICED I had not been posting a lot of tweets, you really COULD have sent me a note and let me know they were missed. YOU could have made me feel better about what I have been doing by even using Twitter in the first place. YOU could have given me more support!

I COULD start making stuff up and posting it, just to get it done.

I COULD let the whole Twitter thing pass away and eventually forget about it.

I COULD give up.

But....

That would be the old me.

That would be the ol' Strong Starter, Poor Finisher Becky.

And that is not Who I Want to Be.

That is not Who I am NOW.

Because I changed

I made a decision to change

And even when, I am presented with things

I COULD do...

I can STOP the COULDs

And START MYSELF Again.

Any Time I Want.

I. Can. Start. Again. Any. Time. I. Want.

Taking a break

Falling behind

Momentary lapses

Surprise Spurts of the Old Me...

DO NOT mean, I didn't (or can't) really change.

They just mean, I am still CHANGING.

I am still building my confidence in my ability to follow through on my changes.

We give up too easily.

Way too easily.

And it is not that we give up on our diet too easily

or that we give up on our exercising too easily

It's that we give up on our SELVES too easily.

We think we CAN'T,

Just because we DIDN'T (a time or two, or ten times).

We think, that just because we made A choice, or TWO choices, or TEN choices today, in a different direction than we had PLANNED on going....

That we have failed.

We think of everything in terms of Good and Bad

and Success or Failure

Instead of choosing

Just choosing

Life.

We see the food we eat,

as good or bad.

We make so many of our choices

and our judgements

about ourselves

and others....

center around

Good and Bad.

When we really need to make choices

that

are

LIFE.

Choose LIFE, people!

Choose to live.

When you start to think you have failed with your day....

STOP. Stop yourself RIGHT THERE....

and choose LIFE

Ask yourself,

"Who do I want to be....RIGHT NOW, This Second?"

And answer,

"I choose to STOP.

And start again,

Right now."

You may end up choosing to STOP 50 times in one day!

Go ahead and do it.

Stop.

And go to bed knowing that you

CONSCIOUSLY CHOSE to STOP yourself

...and start again, each and every time you wanted to

(even if it was 100 times!)

It's simple, really.

Stop

Breathe for 10 seconds

and

Start Over.

All DAY!

In my house, we call this a Do-Over. There are mornings (typically on a weekend, or in the summer, but we are known to do this even on a school morning, or after school, or even at dinner time), when someone (one of the kids...or often, ME), falls apart. Or has a rotten attitude. Or cannot seem to get along with anyone else. Or seems really tired and frustrated. Sometimes, there is just a terrible amount of tension in the house. I will look at the child (or even the entire family) who is struggling (or realize I am the one struggling), and will say, "I think we need a Do-over. Go upstairs to your room(s), close your door and get back in your bed. I will be in to 'wake' you up in five minutes and we'll start this day all over. You can have another chance. We'll act like this never happened." Or, I will announce to my children, I NEED a Do-Over. I am going to my room and shutting my door and getting into my bed. I will be back downstairs in five minutes and we'll start all over.

And they, we, I--do exactly that!

Crazy, huh?

So crazy, that it works.

Don't you wish you got Do-Overs?

GOOD NEWS!

You Do!

There is nothing PREVENTING you

from giving yourself a do-over.

You have limitless do-overs at your disposal,

at any point in your day!

every minute of the day!

each and every day!

each day of every week!

any day of the month!

You may need a BIG Do-over....you may need to apologize to a friend, or your spouse for days, weeks or years of reacting or behaving a certain way, holding a grudge or taking for granted their presence in your life. Don't just apologize...ask for a Do-Over.

You may need a SMALL Do-over...You may have EATEN like a horse, at breakfast. Give yourself a Do-over, RIGHT THEN. Don't agonize over it. Just STOP and move on. Start again, the moment your MIND and your HEART connect with it.

You may have started following this blog with enthusiasm and grand plans...and have noticed the excitement tapering off. STOP yourself. DON'T give up. Just give yourself a DO-OVER and begin again! or pick up where you left off. or go back to a post that inspired you or gave you momentum.

In most cases.....It's NOT that big of a deal. It's not that big of a deal to just START again!

Really.

Typically, you don't use your journal on Wednesday, but this time, you will. I only want you to do two things (in addition to continuing with the gum, the lipstick and the dancing)....

1) Open your journal to the first page and write (anywhere)

QUIT GIVING UP!

Start STOPPING

Start STARTING OVER

I GET AS MANY DO-OVERS as I NEED TODAY

2) Take your measuring tape (I mentioned this waaaay back in the FIRST post and in the Getting Started tab), and measure yourself, in a slim t-shirt and shorts, or your fancy underpants and brassiere....measure (and record on the LAST page of your journal)

IN CENTIMETERS:

Your waist

Your upper arm

Your thigh

Your hips (the widest, bulkiest part)

Your boobs (again, the widest, bulkiest part)

Your ribs (right there, under your boobs)

and Your neck

IF you are afraid your journal might fall into enemy hands, and get published on the internet, find a way to write it in code, just remember how to translate the code. (I'm not really kidding here....I know you're clever, you can think of SOME way to do this).

I hope you are still putting ONE dollar in the envelope at the back of your journal, for each day of the month. At this point, you really need to have about $15 saved...

That's all.

Be Your Best,

Becky

PS. Did you see what I did here? I STOPPED dwelling on how I had fallen short of my goal to post three things a day on Twitter...I stopped droning on and on about how I only had three measly things to re-post. I didn't take ANY of the "I'm a failure, I'll never be able to do this, look how I've already blown it and it's only been a couple of weeks...." options, and I did something ELSE. I stopped myself where I was, and I started again....Adding a NEW post, a BONUS post! I turned the set-back, into an accomplishment, because the very set-back I was aware of, gave me material for a NEW BLOG Post! It moved me OUT of NOT tweeting, into a FULL-BLOWN, wordy, helpful (?), insightful (?) POST! And I didn't beat myself up, give up, or QUIT! I just stopped what I was doing (actually WASN'T doing, in the case of NOT Twittering) and STARTED myself again...with a WHOLE post. WOW! That felt good!!!!

Think you can do the same?

WITH YOUR LIFE?

I bet you can.

COME BACK TO THIS POST AS MANY TIMES AS YOU NEED, (at least mentally), FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!

PS II. You also GET that the whole TWITTER thing is a metaphor for the Ups and Downs you're bound to go through with this weight loss/discover yourself/become who you want to be THING that we're doing together (and how YOU can choose to respond with blame, self loathing, defeat...or jumping back in wherever you left off) right? Just making sure.