2. Desire to do something about it (Part II)

I left this one dangling on my previous post. Desire is a tough one. Some people have the desire, some don't. Some try to convince themselves that they have the desire, but they really don't.

How do you get the desire to lose weight? I had a couple of shocking moments that woke me up from a self-denial daze. I jumped on a scale and it showed a number I never thought I'd see. And, I noticed that people who were 5-6 inches taller than me weighed less than I did.

That was enough to light my fire of desire. And, it's stayed lit ever since. Some type of veil-lifting experience seems to be how many get the desire to lose weight.

Do any of these sound familiar?
"Life's too short to worry or obsess about what I eat."
"I enjoy my food more than I enjoy being skinny."
"I have no willpower."
"Food gives me the escape I need."

These are self-defeating statements and they become irrelevant when you have a heart attack or get diagnosed with type II diabetes or some other life altering and life threatening issue.

And, perhaps that's it. It's easy to say when your 25, 35 or even 45 that life's too short to worry about what you eat. And, while controlling your weight does improve your chances of avoiding ailments, it's not a sure thing. So, the payoff of good health simply isn't worth the immediate cost for many people.

However, I'm only 35 and I already know at least a half dozen people who were shocked into becoming very interested in their diet because of some medical treatment. A few of them were close to dying. They had their chest spread open, people were inside them working on them like they were a broken car. They had long and painful recoveries and plenty of time to think about all the damage they did to their bodies for all of those years.

You probably know someone like that too. If you do, have a chat with them. Ask them what it was like when they thought it was about to be over. The one's I know told me that they were scared like nothing before. They weren't ready to go. They felt foolish for being so pig-headed for years and not being smart enough to know that the day would come when it would all catch up to them. They weren't ready to go. They had grandkids that they wanted to watch grow up. They hadn't made it to the Grand Canyon yet. They had just retired and hadn't had the opportunity to find their new lives. They just wanted to feel like they still had some control over how long they're going to live.

I know several others that didn't get to experience the shock. They're gone.

Desire is a funny thing. I was lucky enough to get a major jolt to my desire long before I had an ailment do it for me. I know that I'm not 100% protected from from weight-related diseases and there are trade-offs and risks to my activities as well (e.g. just two weeks ago a woman was run over and killed on her bicycle 2 miles from my house), but I still find that it's worth it to try to stay healthy.

Of course, health isn't the only benefit that I receive. I enjoy the activities that I'm involved with. There's something about rising in the wee hourse of the morning a few times a year to get to an event that I like. When the alarms goes off, I often question what the heck I'm doing, but by the end of the day I'm satisfied. Eating well helps me enjoy those days even more.

I hope you'll find something about being healthy that'll inspire you as well and I certainly hope that you don't wait for the schock of fear to inspire you.