I’m No Super Hero (JK, never thought I was even close.)

I recently had a conversation with an old childhood friend. They were impressed that I had lost so much weight and wanted to know if I would be a sort of role model for their daughter. Uh – I thought it was an attempt at sarcasm on their part so LOLed. But they were not joking.

Me in 2008

Me, today (July 2012)

I can see where my weight loss and mere survival in life to this point may be impressive – but most people have not been around me for the past 20 some years of bad decisions and poor choices that I’ve made … Divorced 2x, unemployed (temporarily), over filled the oil in my lawn mower & now I hope my neighbor mows my grass for me (thanks Tim) … So while I am EXTREMELY flattered, I have to say that YOU need to be your children’s first role model.

My kids in 2001

My kids in 2009

I think we are too hard on ourselves for mistakes we made in the past – this is human nature. But, making mistakes is how we learn. Hopefully anyway. So you’re not perfect. You screwed up small or big time. Everyone does at some point. It’s dangerous to stay trapped in the fog of self-loathing. (That’s how my weight gain began.) When we do, we make more bad decisions and become way stressed out – it’s a dangerous spiral downhill from there. Every day we can make the choices to be healthier, to be nicer, and to look for the silver lining in everything that happens to us. And – we can start at any age: whether you’re 12 and are motivated by a church retreat or 45 and see an old friend who impresses you to change your lifestyle …

 I love these lyrics: So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains and we never even know we have the key.

Awesome, right?!

Gandhi said, “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.”

So be the change you wish to see in the world. Those are some truly inspiring words!!