If you read as many diet books, or watch as many weight loss stories on TV, as I do you know the turning point of all these stories is the "ah ha" moment. It's the point in the story where the dieter tells you about some turning point in their life when they are suddenly hit with a revelation or situation and now, TA DA!, they are able to diet and the weight just drops off their bodies! I keep watching and listening and reading diet stories so I can vicariously share the experience of the ah ha movement because I've never had mine yet.
For these successful dieters the turning point usually is something emotionally heavy; the death of a loved one, an illness, a cruel remark about their weight, a doctors admonition, etc. Many talk about a agonizingly horrifying embarrassing moment that changes their life forever. I have truly read these with tearful eyes and an occasional gasp. Then my eyes glaze over as I ponder the possibility of such a happening changing my life. Someday my ah ha moment will come! In an instant I will realize the error of my ways and I will turn and walk the straight and narrow. Someday food won't tempt me as much as righteous eating calls my name! Ohh, ah ha moment, come soon!
Well, I'm 54 years old and way way way over pleasingly plump so obviously I'm still waiting. It's not that I don't look for it. And, occasionally I think I even experience it. Maybe it's the day I can't wear the seat belt on an airplane. ??? No, guess that wasn't it. Maybe it's the day the stranger yells and asks me how many doughnuts I eat. ??? No, not that one either. Let's see . . maybe it's when the lady standing in line behind me at the bank starts giggling and tells me that she didn't know people could get that big. ??? Hmm, no, not it. Ok, it must be when I leave the doctors office in tears because he just laid into me over my weight because it is crippling my feet. That has got to be it! Oh, I guess not.
I keep thinking that moment is still to come. When is my turn? How am I ever going to be able to write a diet book if I don't have a ah ha moment? I've even thought it could be a good moment. Can I lose weight for the grandbabies? For my husband? So I can fly in a plane and visit family? Maybe I can do it if I think about being a good witness for the Lord. Maybe .... maybe . ....
Recently I was talking to a friend about the lack of ah ha moments and she said, "well maybe this is your ah ha moment." Well, I didn't think that qualified as anything dramatic enough to be an official ah ha moment, but since then . . . I've been thinking about that. Can my ah ha moment be the day I realize I'm not ever going to have an ah ha moment? All I can say is that the conversation has been on some kind of loop in my brain and floats to the top on a regular basis. Who knows. Maybe accepting that I don't have to, and in fact can't, wait for an ah ha moment just might be a good thing. If this is my ah ha moment though I have got to make up a good story for my book, but I can do that.
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It looks to me like you just started your book. You even have a premise, "what if there is no Ah ha Moment?"
ReplyDeleteI like it.
It is an encouraging moment, because it means you don't have to wait any more, you did not need an Ah Ha moment, you have already decided that this is not the life you want, so now you get to change it.
And we are here cheering you on, and booing those people who hurt you in the past. But remember they did not know you, they did not even really see you. I know you, I see you and I think you a beautiful. Your smile and presence brings joy to my life.
Some of us have to wear our struggles out where the world sees them, others "get" to keep theirs hidden, I have decided out in the open comes with the added bonus of having the support of friends along the way!
Trinity, I like that idea for my book! I'll have to give you credit in the preface. Just wait till you see your name in print in my book!
ReplyDeleteYou know, I agree that perhaps the only AH HA moment you will get is within yourself. Maybe you are just tired of the way things have been going for these several years. Maybe the moment of change comes not from someone else, not from the comments or the warnings or even the scoldings. In you lies all the reasons you need. It is time for a change when you reach that place. So your book can begin with, I am the reason, I am AH HA.
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