What is most important to me?

What is most important to me is that I live true to my life purpose. I have spent so many years of my life pursuing goals that my family or society has set for me that I never took the time to search deep within my own soul to find my purpose. A growing dissatisfaction with my job and my life woke me up to the fact that I was burying my dreams and settling for something far less than what I could be experiencing. As I thought about this more and more, I realized that if I didn’t make a major course change soon, I would one day look back on my life with a regretful heart, knowing that I hadn’t lived my life to its fullest, and that I hadn’t reached my potential. This idea filled me with dread, and I decided that I would not settle for less, whatever the cost.

Living true to my life purpose means that I find my passion, determine how I can use that passion to make a difference for good in this world, and then work for it every day of my life, never allowing anything to stop me. It is a process—a journey—and as I continue to meet resistance along the way, I will make it my purpose to fight discouragement by moving forward always, never stopping to rest and never retreating back to my old ways or to my old, unfulfilling life. Perhaps there is safety and comfort there, but in that place there is no joy, no passion, no bliss. I want more. I want to break through all the barriers and find out who I really am and what extraordinary things I am capable of. I want to find myself rising to such a state that I feel as close to God as possible in this human experience. This is the journey of my life purpose. This is that which is most important to me.

And the August results are in . . .

Well, what can I say? I'm following pretty much the same path that I have previously followed when starting a "Six Months To A Six-Pack" type of program. I've gained weight and inches around the waist. This is the point where, historically, I have thrown everything out the window and quit trying. "What's the point?" I would say to myself. "It's obviously not working, and the pressure is just making me fatter." So, I have reached a decision point. Do I throw in the towel like I have done so many times before? I admit that I seriously considered this. But of course, not doing anything doesn't seem to be working either, so maybe I just need to adjust my strategy and re-commit.

. . . *sigh* . . . Do you ever feel like a hamster, running on your wheel day after day? No matter how fast and how hard you run, you never seem to get anywhere. . . *sigh* . . .

Anyway, I've decided to re-commit. I REALLY want this! I am now working with a fitness/nutrition trainer (Melissa Guthrie--contact her at mgfitness321@gmail.com--she's pretty amazing!). Melissa has developed a meal plan personalized to my level of activity, my RMR, and my weight release goals, so that should take care of my nutrition. I started tracking my eating and exercising on MyFitnessPal.com (check out CoachMelindaAnn to see what I have been eating). Now, after taking a couple weeks off from exercising, I am easing gently back into it to ensure that I stay healthy and continue to move forward. And that is exactly what my new strategy is--to keep moving forward, no matter what. I am also really focusing on accepting myself--and my body--exactly as I am. I want to be able to say "I am beautiful exactly as I am" and believe it down to my core.

Just four months left--here's to my re-commitment to getting my six-pack abs! I WILL SUCCEED!

August results:

Weight: 156.2 lbs
Waist: 38.5 inches