“You don’t drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.” ~Unknown

It’s Monday — the day you are going to get back on track with your exercise and healthy eating plan. Or wait, were you talking about NEXT Monday? Don’t we all do that?  We don’t plan to drown.  We haven’t exactly given up.  But it’s so hard to get started. Again.

I understand because my life took a significant veer away from the direction of my “to do” list last week. Sometimes I have to be reminded that the list is MY plan.  Often God has a different plan in mind.

What was on my list?  Among other things, jumping feet-first into a challenge week to lose those extra pounds I picked up in Thailand.  Not what I accomplished, and the pounds are still hanging around.  And I fell victim to that stupid pattern of thought that if I can’t do something over-the-top and crazy, I can’t do anything at all.

Also, I still fight that mindset that I have to start new resolutions on Monday. Bad idea, because each day that puts off the start toward our goals we’re a day closer to giving up and drowning.

Okay it’s Monday. So, it’s back to the challenge plan today.  I will hit it hard for the next week, and then drop back to a more reasonable but responsible plan of keeping the blood sugar steady be choosing low glycemic foods, the calories low by not overeating, and the metabolism up by keeping up the doable exercise.  And this week I resolve to fall back to reasonable if my hard-hitting plan goes awry.

Putting it off is like staying in the water.  Before you know it, you are drowning and making it to health looks impossible.  Keep in mind though, drowning is not the same as drowned.  As long as you are alive and kicking you can make the effort toward a healthier lifestyle and a vibrant healthy life.

God only gave us one life to learn on and to live for Him. (The next one is going to be easy.)  Let’s make this one count — and start swimming now!

Eating to live and living for Christ,

Susan Jordan Brown