Remember that 6 week challenge? It's still in progress, and boy is it a challenge! It's hard to argue with myself about the mixed emotions toward something so simple as losing a few un'neccessary' pounds. My stomach says, "you were eating 3000 calories every day before, you must be hungry enough to need that many again." My stubborn mind says, "And who do you think you are [self] to try and tell me I can't eat that Poptart...watch me eat 2." My muscles whine, "Are we there yet?" like kids on some drawn out road trip. My semi-laziness mumbles, "It's not like you're fat or anything, I really don't think exercise is necessary, but I do love vanilla lattes and cake." Our culture seems to imply that dieting means someone is fat--I disagree. That's also why I call this a fitness challenge rather than a diet. My problem is not necessarily 'does this dress make me look...' but rather, 'a metabolism is like a marathon runner that never started training: it'll get slower and slower until the day it stops.' Well, shoot, I liked the days when ice cream didn't have a calorie price tag. haha.
One thing that I have committed to pretty successfully is taking the 21 flights of stairs to my residence every day. Lauren was complimenting me on that tonight, and I told her, "I don't like exercising, but I've got to get upstairs somehow." It's become slightly easier, and it's teaching me a few things (imagine that):
For one, I try to pray when I'm taking those long flights of stairs. Sometimes I get distracted or 'too busy' to pray for the things I search for answers in, for those that I love, or just talking to the Big Guy in praise and thanks.
Prayer is great for perspective. The paradox behind my sometimes lack of prayer and more consistent lack of exercise is that I don't like exercise, but I don't like sitting still either. Lots of times when we pray, we sit still. I combine the 2 and chat it up with Jesus in the stairwell. I find, too, that when I'm less focused on the burn of each step and more focused on important things not connected to the minor pain, it really helps me to tackle it quickly. Often our biggest hurdle to jump is the one of our own mind. This is why I think it's SO important to constantly encourage each other--especially as Christians. Someone/something needs to drown out the 'you can't, you're not, you'll never, etc." with 'you can, you are, you will, etc.' Taking the stairs has also provided a good analogy for teaching me to set small goals and take things (ironically enough) one step at a time. The elevator to our floor hits every 3rd floor. I'm busy chugging along through floor 10 with not much problem, but at that point I tell myself--'make it to floor 12.' Then it's, 'well 15 is not that far away, you've already made it 12.' Then at 15, if I'm really tired--I aim for 18. Most of the time, if I'm good at 15, I'm thinking, 'you're ridiculous if you just made 15 and can't do another 6.' Interestingly enough, I often think back to a story about my cousin Susan from years ago.
My college economics teacher happened to have also been her track coach in high school. Once during a race, she had so much determination and pushed herself so far to the limit that she passed out while running. She went face first into the pavement, but at the end no one could question if she gave her all or tried her very best. That's real determination, and I remind myself in the battle against the stairs that my mind does not need to determine when I'm too tired, for surely it will give up long before I've actually encountered a limit. Rather, I have to jump the hurdle of my mind and keep going until my body says otherwise. Now, mind you, all I'm doing is taking the stairs, which I've done many times, so I'm not conquering any great athletic feat. And that's the point. I can conquer it if I first conquer the petty hurdles I set up for myself in my mind.
I'd like to think about this as more than applying to exercising though--whatever challenge you're facing, I believe you can handle...especially if you go to the source of strength. God is brilliant, and one of the perfectly wise things He did was making sure in His Word (the Bible) that we were all constantly reminded of our source of strength. Philippians 4:13 is frequently quoted, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," but there are various other verses reinforcing this idea, and He also supplied examples of Biblical heroes that got their source of strength from Him.
And after I've written this blog, if I don't stay committed to my goal, I'm going to feel pretty ridiculous. After all, what's 10 pounds in the grand scheme of things?....Oh, and don't do that to yourself--what I just did--making it seem like your challenge is petty. We are all faced with different strengths, weaknesses, temptations, battles, etc. Something that is a small concern to one person may be a huge struggle to another. Once again, another reason why it's so important we are understanding and supportive of others (isn't that neat how that wrapped back around again?) Your challenge is a real, legitimate challenge, and you CAN handle it.
And on that note, my next challenge will be waking up in the morning if I don't get to bed.
--Today I was back teaching my 5th grade boys, helping out in Writing Clinic listening to stories of hilarious scuba diving adventures, and eating more rice. Thus is the life, and I can't complain. :)
