I am now on a quest. I have been within 10 pounds of my weight loss goal for awhile now. The good news is I've been able to maintain my current weight within 6 pounds, so I feel confident that I can loose a bit when I let it creep up too high. The bad news is I'm unable to get to the magic number I've set my goal at. Questions - should I be happy at my current weight and just work on maintenence, or should I get more determined and strive to attain my goal of the last 10 pounds? To be honest, it's more of a personal thing to attain the goal I've originally set (and, as my husband can attest, I can be a bit stubborn at times-whatever). Heck, it's taken me this long to get this close, but at this point, should I let nothing deter me from getting to the golden number?
Let's talk numbers: I know that some people get so focused on what the scale says. I realize how unhealthy this can be. After all, there are height to weight ratios, body fat percentage and that weird BMI thing the internet keeps pushing to all keep into consideration when figuring out a healthy range. Looking to the scale can in some cases become an addiction, where you focus soley on the numbers and not on your overall health and fitness. What I've learned through all my weight loss ups and downs is this: there are so many components to health and wellness, you should never become so focused on one area that you get tunnel-vision to everything else that's important.
However, I have a personal goal that I will strive to accomplish. If I don't get there right away, I'm not going to beat myself up over it. I know the last 10 pounds of weight loss is a bear anyway, since by now your body is saying "enough!!" and assimilates quickly to things you're trying to do to burn calories. As with any goal you need to be focused, but be willing to refocus and change your plan of attack as needed. To my husband who has been putting up with this for a long time now, know this: I will not let this become an obsession or an addiction as I keep working toward the goal.
Oh yeah, and one more thing: I can be a bit stubborn at times ;)
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Healthy Anger
“Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."
- Yoda
Yes, I know, I am letting my closet nerd peer out a bit. But, as a forever nerd of the Star Wars genre, I've always been curious about the whole dark side thing when it comes to anger. As a law enforcement officer, we're trained when we get into a life or death fight with a bad guy, you must do anything to survive. If you've been shot and see yourself bleeding out, what would motivate you more to get through it: thinking about the fact that you're dying or get pissed off about what this guy did to you? Anger can give you the edge and strength to survive.
It's mentioned that anger can be a positive in this situation because it can drive you to survive and not to give up. I've taken and taught women's self defense classes before and anger, again, can be an extremely endearing trait in a deadly situation. Anger can help you pull out that last little bit of inner strength that you have left (or didn't know you had) to fight back against the attacker and get you through it. There have been numerous stories of personal survival (lost in a snowstorm, trapped in a cave-in, etc) where a person is physically beaten down and wants to give up their life because it feels too hard to continue. But it's the anger that awakens them out of that self defeating mindset to keep fighting to live.
What about competitive anger? For those that thrive on physical competitition, think about when you're in a race, ride, etc, and you've hit that mental wall that makes you feel like you don't want to keep going? You're body is exhausted and is screaming at you to quit the insanity. For some athletes, they have to dig deep to find the determination to push their body to continue. And sometimes the determination begins as anger, with the mind telling the body "F#@! you, there is no way we are going to quit!"
A little dose of healthy anger can also help a person stand up for themselves in a situation where they feel wronged. If a person is initially too shy or polite to confront the situation, angry feelings are useful to motivate the confrontation so issues can be discussed and hopefully resolved.
The "dark side" comes into play when a person is angry a lot over practically everything (we all know someone who falls into this category), and lets their anger bottle up without letting it out in positive ways. Anger can generate bitterness, depression and pessimism, which can affect the person negatively throughout their life if they don't recognize it.
I believe anger does get a bad rap at times, and can have a useful place in our lives. But beware of the dark side of anger as well - it can consume you if you let it.
One last Yodism on the subject: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
- Yoda
Yes, I know, I am letting my closet nerd peer out a bit. But, as a forever nerd of the Star Wars genre, I've always been curious about the whole dark side thing when it comes to anger. As a law enforcement officer, we're trained when we get into a life or death fight with a bad guy, you must do anything to survive. If you've been shot and see yourself bleeding out, what would motivate you more to get through it: thinking about the fact that you're dying or get pissed off about what this guy did to you? Anger can give you the edge and strength to survive.
It's mentioned that anger can be a positive in this situation because it can drive you to survive and not to give up. I've taken and taught women's self defense classes before and anger, again, can be an extremely endearing trait in a deadly situation. Anger can help you pull out that last little bit of inner strength that you have left (or didn't know you had) to fight back against the attacker and get you through it. There have been numerous stories of personal survival (lost in a snowstorm, trapped in a cave-in, etc) where a person is physically beaten down and wants to give up their life because it feels too hard to continue. But it's the anger that awakens them out of that self defeating mindset to keep fighting to live.
What about competitive anger? For those that thrive on physical competitition, think about when you're in a race, ride, etc, and you've hit that mental wall that makes you feel like you don't want to keep going? You're body is exhausted and is screaming at you to quit the insanity. For some athletes, they have to dig deep to find the determination to push their body to continue. And sometimes the determination begins as anger, with the mind telling the body "F#@! you, there is no way we are going to quit!"
A little dose of healthy anger can also help a person stand up for themselves in a situation where they feel wronged. If a person is initially too shy or polite to confront the situation, angry feelings are useful to motivate the confrontation so issues can be discussed and hopefully resolved.
The "dark side" comes into play when a person is angry a lot over practically everything (we all know someone who falls into this category), and lets their anger bottle up without letting it out in positive ways. Anger can generate bitterness, depression and pessimism, which can affect the person negatively throughout their life if they don't recognize it.
I believe anger does get a bad rap at times, and can have a useful place in our lives. But beware of the dark side of anger as well - it can consume you if you let it.
One last Yodism on the subject: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
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