Dealing with Discouragement

It's hard to believe that anyone, in this day and age, who is trying to live a healthier lifestyle would feel discouraged or be discouraged, especially from friends or family - but it does happen. It's terrible to admit, but sometimes people say the wrong thing - sometimes without knowing it.

This has happened to me before and it happened the other day. I was feeling tired from a run I took the day before and was sitting at the table, talking to my beautiful wife about how tired I was from running. She was cooking dinner and said "Well, don't do this for me - I love you just the way you are."

....now I knew her intent. It was meant as an affirmation of her love and devotion to me and our marriage. She has been an anchor in several sever storms in life - but as the words hit my ears, I couldn't help but feel discouraged.

I want nothing more than to impress my bride with my progress. I want, most of all, for her to notice and care about my changes. So when someone who you hold above all others tells you that they don't think you need to change for their benefit, I couldn't help but feel down.

But it is the truth. She really doesn't care about my physical being. She is invested in the gray matter between my ears and the inner-soul that makes up who I am. If my physical body changes for better or worse, she would still love me. She believes in that wedding vow, full heartedly.

So about this healthier lifestyle. Who is it for anyway?

The short answer is myself, which is not as satisfying as doing it for the love of my life - but it's the absolute truth. When I originally joined MFP, it was because I had a bunch of friends who were on here and I was kind of competing with them. It was fun - and a good challenge for me but I have never known what it's like to love the created being that I am. God invested in me, my wife invested in me - but I somehow missed that memo and can only see the flaws. The bits of me that need more toning (or some at all), the parts that move (that shouldn't) - I notice it all - and I think if were all honest, we all notice it about ourselves.

That is where healthy living comes into the light. Although it sounds so cliche, doing whatever it is that we are doing on here has to be for a selfish reason. When we put our hope in opinions of this world, even our spouses - it simply won't work. No matter how near and dear people are to us - the ultimate source of motivation has to be a desire within ourselves to change - or it won't last.

Why did you sign up on FitnessPal? Is it because you wanted to change? Maybe you wanted more knowledge about what nutrition (or lack there of) that was actually making it to your body. I joined because I wanted to impress my wife, complete with my friends and so on.... but now? Now I am doing this for me, because it's important to me to be as responsible with this life as I possibly can be - because I want to see the changes - because I've never been "fit."

To each his own - literally.

"That is how you devour a whale, one bite at a time." ~ Frank Underwood, House of Cards