So last summer, after the loss of my mom in May, my family loaded up into our Prius and headed out for trip across the country. Five weeks and 9,000 miles later, we pulled back into our driveway. It was an unbelievable and somewhat healing trek with our 5 year old in the back seat. We saw things and experienced things that will last in our memories forever. I had time to reflect on the past year. It was the most difficult and emotional year in my life. I felt my mom's presence while standing on the edge of a cliff on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, something she would have given anything to see. I was able to grow even closer with my family and grieve to loss of my mother. It was life-changing, and I certianly hope it wasn't the last time we take a trip like that.
This summer, we are at home, though we have made a few trips to different places. It is nothing like last summer's adventure, but it is an adventure of a different kind. I have been steadily gaining weight year after year, and this summer at home was the perfect opportunity to start to get it under control. For someone so anxious about death and dying, you'd think that alone would be enough to kickstart a healthy lifestyle. But for some reason, I have struggled to find the motivation to get on a healthier track in life, all the while stressing about new health concerns...all related to weight gain.
I have been so lucky to have found DietBet, and to have participated in this specific challenge with Chris and Heidi Powell, two people who are encouraging to millions of people. Their training methods as well as their true concern and belief in others makes this DietBet unique. So this summer has brought with it the chance to change myself, and for that, I am grateful.
I can only think about how I could have done this last summer while on a trip across the country. And I think about this a lot, because I don't want that trip to be the last that we take. I am positive that it won't be. But I am not sure how I would have tried losing weight and eating such a healthy diet while on the road. We couldn't take much with us, so we literally ate almost every meal out last summer. This, as we all know, is not conduscive to weight loss. So I can only hope that for the next trip, I will have my weight under control, and then be able to find a way to make travel and healthy living work.
After all, life is way too short to not experience as much as you can in this world. There are people to meet, places to see, mountains to climb, and cliffs to stand on. I hope that my son doesn't have to stand on a cliff somewhere thinking about how nice it would have been for us to see it together while grieving my loss. So, I'm taking a stand for my life, and his, to make a change. And my experiences from my own past and present are guiding the way to my future and maintaining my focus on what is most important.