Choose Health

Over the course of this year, I have been inspired by my supervisor, Jon, who encourages us as beginning therapists to, "Expect health!" from our clients and from ourselves. His words and deeds have inspired me to think about choosing health for myself in many domains of my life. In writing this blog, I am challenging its readers, and myself, to choose health and seek a community that supports choosing health and maintaining accountability for choosing health. I hope this can be an open forum for discussion about different areas in our lives that we choose to pursue health, set goals for ourselves, and report our success in achieving those goals. In saying that, there is no way to fail seeking health. I strongly believe that we will deviate from the path of health again and again, AND, that we can continue to come back to the path again and again.

So, I will begin by sharing with you my desire and my plans to choose health, and I sincerely hope that you will choose to join me on this journey by sharing your own story with me and other readers.

April 8, 2010 -- Shelly

I am a 34-year-old (soon to be 35) graduate student/ psychology intern/ mother/ wife/ friend. Over the course of the last 8 years, I have put on a substantial amount of weight. I believe that this significant amount of weight has affected my health and well-being. When I look in the mirror, I try to look at myself with love and compassion. But, sometimes I find it difficult to do this because I do not like what I see. Since I have become obese, I feel that others look at me and treat me differently, too. And, as most of you I am sure are already aware, there is research to back this up.

By telling you this, I am not seeking sympathy, and I am not attempting to create a sob story. I know that I have actively chosen obesity for myself. However, today, I want to choose something different. And, I know that any moment of any hour of any day that I have the power to CHOOSE something different for myself. This is comforting to me!

Yesterday, I decided that I had had enough. Just over a year ago, I joined Weight Watchers online, and I lost over 20 lbs. As of yesterday, I had gained about 10 of those lbs. back. So, I decided that enough is enough, and it is up to me to choose health for myself if I really want it. And, I do. The first step for was joining Weight Watchers again. This did not come without its own set of challenges because joining Weight Watchers is one thing, but being honest with myself is something completely different. Honesty means tracking my diet and exercise truthfully so that I can achieve the results that I want -- physical health so that I can live.

This morning when I got up, I logged onto Weight Watchers. I was very reluctant to be truthful in logging my food because I ate more than my points allotted yesterday, and I knew this was going to make me feel upset. This struggle to be honest with myself about my health is what gets in my way frequently because I convince myself that I have good reasons for making the choices I make. Some of my excuses include, "I am stressed out, so I shouldn't make changes right now," "I will be more honest/ start over tomorrow," or, "I can't do this." These are some of the thoughts that keep me stuck in a state of poor physical health.

So, I chose to be honest in my reporting. This helped me to feel empowered. Choosing honesty with yourself is sometimes very difficult. Today, I choose to be honest with myself in the service of walking the path of health!

This is my story today. I sincerely hope that you will share your story, too, so that we can learn and be inspired by each other's journeys. My hope is that we can all feel connected to a community that supports health!

Today, let's CHOOSE HEALTH!