There is no finish line

Once when I was on vacation, there was a poster on the wall behind the treadmill in the hotel gym featuring a runner who was clearly at the end of the day’s run.  The slogan was: 

THERE IS NO FINISH LINE.

I loved reading that and I think about it often.  I love knowing that every day I practice exercising – no matter what that exercise is - is one more day in my HABIT of exercising.  I love knowing that each day of healthy eating is a choice I will continue to make daily – for the rest of my life.  I like to ponder what that means in the grand scheme of things – it means being conscious…really awake.  It means saying no to excessive eating and drinking.  It means recognizing when boredom or anxiety has me reaching for the seriously over-salted, butter-drenched vat of popcorn.  It means reducing the stress level in my life through healthy, loving relationships, and work I enjoy. It means walking, taking a distant parking spot, moving more and sitting less.

Today our family went to a community 4^th of July parade.  We parked up a hill, walked to watch the parade, stood for over an hour watching and socializing, then strolled down to the park.  We walked around a bit and ran into others we knew, then my husband asked if we were hungry.  I really thought about it.  I wasn’t hungry yet.  It smelled great, but I just wasn’t interested in eating.  I had a small piece of watermelon while he had a burger.  Right about then the band started to play and we went down to dance!  Only 15 minutes, but more than we have for a while.  Very fun.  We walked back to the car.  After calculating all the calories used, I ended up with 614 calorie credits for the day!

I would not always have appreciated that slogan as much as now.  I have felt overwhelmed and a little defeated.  I might have thought that perhaps it was too monumental a task…because I wanted to do it all at once.  However, now I know – from my previous successes and failures with weight loss – that no one can accomplish everything all at once.  It’s always going to be one step, one moment, one day at a time.  As long as it’s a forward motion we will keep achieving our goals.

What I know and embrace now is that there is no finish line.  And for this I am truly grateful.