Increasing the Circle of Self

Last weekend I became a mentor for a small-group course, Power of Connection. One of the things we talk about in the course is keeping an eye on the three-legged stool of self, others and context.

I've written about this before; when time is short, I keep my eye on "others" and "context" but tend to give that "self" circle short shrift. Of course, practically, I know that in the end, me not paying attention to me also affects others and then the context slips.

I'm sure you can see this has everything to do with weight loss. Starting in mid-May, I effectively stopped exercising. And I let my calories creep up too. And of course, I didn't know how MUCH they crept up, because I wasn't recording them; all in the name of "work." I had a job to do and a deadline approaching and let go of the fact that getting this weight off is also my job. I could argue that it's my most important job at this stage.

I'm going to be keeping that circle of self in balance this week. Am I the most important thing in my world? Of course not. Is my long-term health and my self-esteem as important as my family and my job? Yes. I'm going for it.

And . . . we're back!

Reader, it's been several weeks since my last blog. I feel like I'm in the confessional. I got very focused on work in May and June and let go of my health goals. I'm not happy about it, but there it is.

My commitment is to my long-term health, not only to weight loss. But weight loss is a major (if not crucial) part of that commitment. So what happened?

One more time, I sold myself down the proverbial river. One more time, I put my work and family ahead of my own needs, even my own health. One more time, I let it out of my sites.
Yes, I did it again. And it was, in fact, only "one more" time, not "too many" times.

Today I am focusing on preparing food that supports my goals, getting some exercise, and forgiving myself for letting go of that in the past two months. It starts with now.