Road Trip Buddies

As I mentioned last time, I had just gotten back from my annual trip up to Atlanta, a trip in which I normally have a traveling companion. Unfortunately, this time, she couldn’t go and I had to go it alone. While I had fun once I made it to Hot’lanta (as always), getting there wasn’t quite as much fun without my car buddy! Now, I’m not writing this to make her feel guilty (because she does read these posts), all I am trying to say is that when you are taking a long journey, it’s best to have someone along for the ride!

I have found that when I tried to do this weight-loss thing on other occasions, my head just wasn’t in it and I really had no one with me that was willing to jump in the car and go! And I feel that is one of the reasons I haven’t been successful until now. When I started this road trip in 2011, I had one person going along with me, however, I’ve noticed that as time has gone on, I have added more people to my passenger list. There are the usual suspects such as my family and life-long friends, but there are also the new friends whom I have met in the WW meetings and also people who have randomly come up to me on the street to tell me they have started their own journey because of me! Wow, that is just overwhelming! I feel like I started this trip by driving a motorcycle and now I have chartered my own personal Greyhound!

Sometimes, it’s hard to think about the pressure that is on me to keep all my passengers happy, but then I remember, that people are doing this for themselves and I am merely the spark that lit their flame. What everyone doesn’t understand— because I don’t really talk about it— is that for all of you who have told me that I have inspired you to join WW or simply get fit and healthy, I use your stories and energy as my own inspiration to continue on. I encourage you to share your stories (with me or with anyone who will listen) because your story of struggle and/or success may just be that spark of inspiration that someone you don’t even know needs to start their own journey. As long as we continue to inspire and be inspired, we will never travel by ourselves again.