Get busy living

 I love love love the movie Shawshank Redemption.  It is just a really good movie.  But in particular there is one line that really resonates with me.

Get busy Living or Get busy Dying.  Every time I say it I can hear Morgan Freemans deep voice saying it.  But in actuality, the quote is said a few times in the movie.....because it's that important!  And I've written about this in the past...way back in 2009....but it's so good I want to repeat it!!!

In a weight loss journey this is particularly true.  Because you see, I have a choice. One choice really.  I can take the steps to control my weight and be healthy  or I can ignore it and eat myself silly while laying on the couch with no exercise or activity!  One choice.  But that one choice has SOOO many ramifications!

I can get busy living....making my life one that is really living. Eating healthy, moving more, being active and living my life to the fullest!   Or I can continue to eat poorly and exercise little and allow my health to continue to erode until I am in a place that I can't recover from......a place that will bring death.  Because you see, ignoring my weight issues and my inactivity is hastening my death.  Sure, that sounds way over the top melodramatic. But lets look at the leading causes of death.  Obesity is a contributing factor to each one of those ways to die.  Those diseases are caused or at least exacerbated by excess weight!   

SO you see, get busy living or get busy dying really does pertain to that single choice we have.  We can eat healthy and get active and get busy living.   Or we can continue to eat junk food and allow our weight to skyrocket and not get any exercise and in essence we are going to at that point be 'get busy dying'.  We have a choice.. I want to live.  I want to live the best life possible and that life I want is NOT plagued with health conditions that I have control of!

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying.  It's your choice!!!

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying

About a week or two ago Todd and I watched one of my all time favorite movies....the Shawshenk Redemption. And of course having that movie in my head emphasized my choice that I'm making right now. That choice? To live.

It's been no secret. I've gained weight over the last year. I'm not happy with myself over this, but that's a whole other ball game....er post. I was only half way committed to the weight loss journey and therefore I lost control and gained. Finally it hit me. I have two choices. I can get busy living or be busy dying. Literally. I can chose healthy foods, healthy activities and lose the weight and live. Or I can continue eating poorly, ignore exercise and die. I can live or I can die. How can this be that I'm chosing life or death?

Lets go with death first. The larger I get the more miserable I feel. Aches and pains that I had long forgotten. I don't have the energy that I had at a lower weight. In essence my quality of life has diminished because of added weight. I know that to gain more would continue to lower that level. I'm not saying that I can't be a happy fat girl...I just know that it's more difficult for every day things. My arthritic knees bother me more. Back pains. Stomach aches (they were constant). You name it. But even beyond the diminished quality of life is the fact that the added weight could very well eventually kill me. There are quite a few weight related illnesses out there. One of them would surely eventually catch up to me and get me. So yes, death very well could be closer on the horizon with a heavier weight.

Soooo not lets talk about life. Well, there's not much to talk about except to say that my energy levels are outstandingly higher with each pound of extra weight that is gone from my body. My arthritis doesn't bother me nearly as much. Stomach pains.....rare. My bloodwork came back so much better at a lower weight...showing me that my risks for some of these illnesses was greatly reduced. I was able to lead a much more productive life and I knew that that life was better protected because of the lifestyle I was leading. Losingi and maintaining a weight loss is to chose life.

Soooo I have a choice every time I look in the refridgerator. I can get busy living or I can get busy dying. I have a choice every time I am waffling back and forth between going to the gym or skipping it. I can get busy living or I can get busy dying. The choice is that simple!

Last night I had a quote come to me from one of my all-time favorite movies. "Get busy livin' or get busy dieing". That is exactly what I've got to do. It really is a choice that I have to make. I can live or I can die and the end result is a cumulation of my food and exercise choices. It really is as simple as that. Get busy livin' or get busy dieing!

The other thing that hit me last night was that I'm letting some demons in my life are at war within my life and those demons are causing me to feel that "why should I? What's losing weight going to do". Fatalistic, yes...very. I need to kick those demons in the butt. And actually turn it around and say, "I'm going to lose weight BECAUSE of the demons...." And yes, after thinking about it for a while, I can definitely come up with a mental plan of attack that does turn my thoughts and energies around from something so fatalistic to something that is kick butt. It's going to be difficult to retrain my thinking and to banish those fatalistic, 'why should I....it's not going to make a difference' thoughts and turn them into the the new 'think outside of the box, do it in spite of those demons'.

This morning, I'm working on my eating plans for the day and I've already exercised so I'm on track!