A Matter of Choice

Affirmation: Change is choice; choose change

A matter of choice. Sounds great. We all love choice. But I have been thinking a lot about choice as it relates to my state of health and eating. I give myself too many choices, mainly I think that I frequently give myself both the choice and the permission to fail, to make unhealthy choices, both with food and with lifestyle and exercise.

I was reading a blog by a woman who was talking about her training for a marathon and how she gave herself no choice in training…Not when getting up at 4:30 in the morning was a pain, not when an employee at work quit making her workload heavier requiring her to work more hours, not when her responsibilities as a mom and wife called. She just gave herself no choice but to train. Failure was not an option.

I have begun to realize that perhaps I have flirted with failure too much. Given myself too much choice in the matter. Do I really believe that it is even possible to make healthy eating a permanent part of my life, an unconscious choice every time I eat? Do I really believe that I can loose half my body weight to become healthy and eliminate my high B/P? Do I? Do I really believe that I can begin to choose to exercise every day…every day with out fail? Then I have to ask myself do I even want to? If I do, then why am I not choosing it?

Is it at all possible that I am going around this the wrong way? Honestly at this point in my life there really is no choice, well yes there is…it is a matter of choosing life or death. So why am I choosing death? I think that maybe a paradigm shift is needed here. I need, want to allow no choice but to succeed. I have no choice but to succeed. I have no choice. Failure is not an option. Why is this so hard? I worked off of this premise during Grad school when things got really tough. Failure was just not an option for me, I wanted that degree, I wanted what needed those professors to teach me, whether they wanted to or not. So how do I apprehend that to this part of my life? Well I think that removing the choice to fail is a start. To keep my eye on the prize of health. To live with the end in mind. This statement is something I live by in many other areas in my life…it is time to incorporate it into this area.

What is the end I have in mind?

• To be healthy (1 Cor. 6:18-20)
• To have the energy and strength to do the work God has called me to do.
• To not be ruled by food but by the Holy Spirit (Deut. 8:3; Matt 4:14)
  

This is not about looking good for me, although in the end it will be nice to wear fun comfortable clothes again. The is about living, feeling full of energy, having my life back.