August 13, 2010...Friday.

"The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender."

Vince Lombardi

The world can be a beautiful place, full of possibilities and life. You can feel invincible and in control. But it's not always like that. The world can also be a stressful, upsetting, confidence-crushing place. At times, it seems like even something's as clear-cut as weight loss is harder than it really needs to be. Is it worth the trouble? Why am I banging my head against the wall? Is it really doing any good?

YOU'RE DARNED RIGHT IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When life and our minds are full of troubles, when things seem out of control, you've got to take control of what you can. When confidence is low, that's exactly when you need to be at your healthiest, your strongest, your most energetic. There's no better time to create your own little corner of sanity and positive feeling. The best way we can do this is to stick with those small daily weight loss goals.

We can be the hammer, making things happen, or we can be the nail that sits there and gets pummeled over and over. If you're starting to feel like a nail....and I must admit I have been...it's up to you/ME to keep my program moving forward. You/Me/WE, need to gather ourselves together, draw a line in the sand and refuse to give in to the doubts and temptation to give in or...dare I say....QUIT!!!

Here is a story that made lots of sense to me, its about a frog.

A frog, hopping around the farm, minding his own business, fell right into a pail half-filled with cream. Swimming frantically, he found the sides too steep and too high. Determined not to give up, he continued to struggle. He kicked and squirmed, kicked and squirmed until at last his churning had turned the cream into a block of butter--allowing him to hop right out. HE NEVER GAVE UP!!

Here's how our story and his intersect. IF he only saw the hopelessness of his situation and started feeling sorry for himself, he would have sunk to the bottom. But instead he kept kicking. He kicked not because he knew it would help him to escape, but because he was compelled to, he had no choice. He kicked because the alternative was no alternative at all.

From the frog's point of view, all he was doing was treading water (or cream), doing what he could in a bad situation. If you keep kicking....but not kicking yourself...even if it feels just seems like you're treading water, you're actually causing real change that will make a huge difference later on.