My Village - 29 days left

In 1996, Hillary Rodham Clinton attributed the title of her book to the African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child".  And while I am unsure what number of people it takes to make a village these days nor do I refer to myself still as a child, I would say that since I began my weight loss journey 89 days ago, "It takes not only determination and perseverance, but much support from friends and family for Karen to lose weight".  My readers have been my "village" if you will.

Not a day has gone by without a kind word of encouragement or a quick line to say "keep going".  When I have been down in the dumps, the exact words that I have needed to hear have found there way to me in an email.  And many times when I have failed to believe in myself, you have believed in me anyway.

As I thought on this today, I wondered how many other people would succeed in challenges placed before them if they too embraced the support of their own "village".  However, like I was when I first started on my road to healthier living, they are embarrassed to share and are ashamed of the person they have become.  Of course, in my case, everyone who just looked at me knew that I was unhealthy and needed to make changes. Yet the "saying it" part for me was difficult because that was me admitting that I had failed when it came to making good choices diet and exercise wise.  Perhaps that is why they say, "admittance is the first step toward recovery".

And even though I still know I have a long road ahead of me to become a healthy size and weight, I no longer beat myself up for poor choices of the past.  I don't meditate on the "if only's" that I should have chosen yesterday.  Instead, I focus on the decision that I make today and concentrate on staying on the right path of a healthy lifestyle.

As I share with you today, I realize that I am not perfect.  Nor am I trying to give the impression that there are no longer hard moments for me along the way.  However, I would like to encourage you to take advantage of the "village" surrounding you.  It is my belief that you will find that you are not alone in what you feel or think and gleaning on the support of others will help you to find success on your journey as well.  Today more than ever, I am glad that I leaned on mine.

Romans 12:10 

^{(New International Version}

^{) -} Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.