Going Through the Motions

My Weight Watchers buds (hi buds!) and I were talking the other day about how we're all kind of in the same boat.

We've all been doing this for a year...and we are BORED!  We are tired of thinking about food all the time and counting points and being on a DIET and trying to lose weight.

I bring all this up because I think it's important to acknowledge the reality of going through a long-term lifestyle change.  If we were all in a car with little kids this would be the part of the road trip where the kids are crying and squirming in their car seats, and the parents are the ones screaming, "Are we there yet?"  If we were ancient Israelites we'd be grumbling at Moses right about now, complaining about taking us out of the lush comforts of Egypt and making us starve in the desert.

We also talked about one of the reasons we keep coming back to the meetings is that we want to be with our friends there.  You might say we are just going through the motions...not necessarily engaged in our personal quests on every level.  (I would like to point out that among this group of four women, over the past year we have collectively lost almost 200 pounds!)

I'm here to say that I think "going through the motions" sometimes is a good thing.  There are times that we just have to keep taking the next step, however small that step may be.  Today I think I'll even make "going through the motions" my goal:  make my bed, tidy up the house, go for a walk, eat reasonably.  There's nothing wrong with going through the motions when the motions we're going through are positive habits we've been trying to develop.  I may not FEEL like eating right today, but I'm going to go through the motions and do it anyway.  I don't particularly feel like exercising but I'm going to turn on the Wii and put in the Just Dance game and do it anyway.

Chances are, after going through some of these motions, I might even feel a little less squirmy in my carseat.  And...HEY!  Maybe going through the motions like this can become my new fall-back position!  Instead of turning to food when I'm bored, angry, tired or upset, I'll be dying for a walk around the block!  Hey...it could happen!

Hugs.