Getting Lost

Before Smart Phones, GPS and pretty much any of the technology we use today to find our way, there was the good old-fashioned road map. Sometimes I miss the simpler times. Then again, I never relied on the paper maps while driving, so maybe it wasn’t all that simple! One thing has never changed though, getting to your destination can be tough if you don’t plan your route! This little journey of mine has required me to not only lay out a road map of where I want to go, but also to be sure and expect the unexpected (do I sound like an ad for Big Brother? Maybe I watch too much Reality TV)! Now, the Roadblocks and Detours post from the other day is the “unexpected” aspect of this little road trip and I have to make sure that when I encounter those, I get right back on my way; however, getting flat out lost can make it difficult to recover and get back on track. That’s not to say that you won’t ever find your way, but you also can’t beat yourself up about it, if you do get lost.

I have been lost before. I was lost for 30 something years and then I was on the path for about six months, and then I got lost once again! And I’m talking really LOST, like an airplane on a tropical island with the guy from Lord of the Rings and that other guy from Party of Five lost! But I digress...for me, getting lost only meant that I wasn’t ready to get to my destination. I wanted to procrastinate...you know, “why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?” type thinking. So, I waited. For four years. And then I got the road map out planned my new route. I was ready. Nothing was going to stop me from getting to the end of my journey this time: Detours, road blocks, getting lost, bring’em on! I was ready for the challenge.

People ask me all the time: What makes this time different? How did I get my mind right? And sadly, I don’t have an answer for them. Because what motivated me to get un-lost, may not be enough to motivate someone else and vice-versa. So if you are currently lost and looking for that road map, find out what drives you. I don’t necessarily mean “what drives you to want to lose weight”, but what drives you to do anything that is unappealing. The next time you do something that you don’t really want to do, reflect on what it was that motivated you to complete the task. Maybe that is the key to unfolding the road map to start your own life-changing road trip.