Reaching for the Big Gulp One Step at a Time
The other day I decided I wanted to run to my son’s school. Okay…jog…but run just sounds so much more hardcore. His school is only (to be exact) 3.4 miles away but it’s almost entirely a gradual uphill run. For me, this was very difficult. I set a goal to run it in 30 minutes or less. I started off feeling fantastic and motivated. The steepest hill is in the first half mile then it levels out for about the next mile. No problem. Then I hit the last 2 miles which is all uphill aside for very small stretch. By this time I was getting tired, my legs were burning, and my motivation was waning but my pride was not. You see my hubby was going to meet me at the school to bring us home and I didn’t want him to see me walking on the side of the road. So for the next two miles I set small goals. I will make it to that tree. To that crack in the sidewalk. To that stoplight. And so on. When I looked up to the foothills where the schools is located I felt overwhelmed. I’ll never make it up there. But when I looked 50 feet ahead at the crumpled Big Gulp on the side of the road I felt like I could make it to the cup. And I did. Not in 30 minutes, it took me 40, but I made it all the way to his school without walking except for 30 seconds after a herculean sprint through a traffic light. I don’t like to wait. I know, 3.4 miles may not seem like a lot to you but it was for me and it felt really good. Really good.
Losing weight and, well, life is similar. The big picture is often overwhelming, even discouraging. How am I ever going to lose x amount of pounds? Or pay down that credit card? Or buy a house? Or finish college? You can. If you take it one pound at a time. One payment a time. One month at a time. Once class at a time. Heck, I often have to take life one second at a time or I’ll slip into that big black hole of depression. We are capable of so much more than most of us will give ourselves credit for but I think anxiety over the big picture often cripples the best of intentions. What in your life seems impossible right now? What if you lower your gaze a bit and focus on the next step and then the next. Before you know it you’ll find yourself at the foothills. Then why not take a big breath and start up the foothills to the mountain top one step at a time.
Hugs & High Fives,
j
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This is my (almost) sane quest for insane health. Let's 
WOW,great post..I’m going to email this to my mom! She could really use this. As of late she has been doing this the same thing,taking one thing at a time.
Thank you!
Good for you!! Awesome job! and great analogy also– I once had a professor in college tell us the way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
*clapping hands* – well done! Very impressed – hills are very tough … love the analogy too
That’s definately all uphill. Reminds me of the movie What About Bob?; just babysteps…
I have to babystep everything it seems!!! 😉