What a Start

Hello to everyone out there in Blog Land. Hope you all enjoyed bringing in the New Year!

On New Year’s eve we stayed in but we had a really nice visit with my grandma. Bill grilled and we had plenty of yummy veggies. I tried adding maple syrup on the roasted brussel sprouts instead of EVO…… yum, yum. At 11 p.m. Bill and I were ready to call it a new year and go to bed.

On New Year’s day we slept in till about 7: 30 a.m. Since my grandma stayed the night, when we got up we were able to take a walk together with the dogs. Bill had to work the whole weekend helping some friends, so we were glad to get some quality time together. At one point I had asked Bill if I could walk Woodrow on a separate path from him and Brutice. I wanted some alone time so I could get my thoughts in order. Woodrow and I got into a really good pace in no time. While I was walking I was thinking about all the New Year resolutions that I have been hearing (and reading). See in the past I never really took the whole thing serious. Mostly because I didn’t want to make an effort, and what if I failed? At that moment a scripture came to me. Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”. Wow…. This applied to so much in my life. No matter where I have failed God has never, and he is not giving up on me. Why should I? I just need to set aside the weight of my negative thinking to get to my full potential!!!!

At this moment when all this connected I felt like a load had been removed. I looked at the pavement and knew I was on the right path. I told Mr. Woodrow he was going to get one hell of a workout. I started to lightly jog. I kept jogging for about 90 seconds at a time, then I would go back to a brisk walk. Before I knew it I had made it to the end of the street. At that time a slender lady that I see from time to time either running or walking her dog started toward Woodrow and I. The pride in me would not let me go back to a walk. I kept thinking if we could just pass her, and then I would be around the corner she wouldn’t see me walking again. I really don’t know why this mattered to me, but it did. When we started to pass she greeted me and said “hey how are ya, I have seen you out walking before. Have you started running too?”……my reply….. “um, yeah like 10 minutes ago”. At this point she introduced herself as Wendy and made friends with Woodrow. She then asked if she could join me…….yikes. So off we went and were on a stride a lot faster than I was doing a minute ago. Woodrow started pulling, my nose started running, and then I forgot about my breathing….. crap! So I told her to continue and that I needed to go back to walking. Let me tell you guys it felt like my exercise Angel had been sent. She was just as happy to go at my speed. She told me that she has been running since ’93 and tries to run 6-10 miles every day. This made me feel much better. I mean that’s like expecting someone to come work at my job and be at my level on their first day….. not going to happen. Maybe if anyone else would tell me that they are at this fitness level that I would have been intimidated, but she didn’t. She helped me focus on my breathing and finding the right stride. When I needed to walk, we walked. When I started to run she encouraged me. Overall we walked 3 miles and ran close to a mile. During our walking we were talking away. During our conversation I made a crack about myself (damn… start the 21 day calendar over) she jumped on me instantly. She then told me “You can’t do that anymore. You can come out here and run all you want but if you don’t change your mind you will just continue to limit yourself”. She then asked me if I thought I deserved more than feeling that way. Damn right I deserve more. Risking the chance of sounding like an old L’oreal commercial, “I’m worth it”.

Once our walk was over I came home and I was speaking with my family. I told them that I was going to do this. That I am so tired of being depressed and tired of not being able see past my size to value my own worth.

In 2010, I will be a better example to my son, I want my husband and I to teach him about living a healthy lifestyle. I think about memories with my different family members and they are surrounded by events or activities that we had done together. A lot of these bonding experiences were with food as the center of attention. Not saying that the bowl of ice cream I had with my grandparents at a local malt Shoppe is the route of my problems, but when I need comfort don’t I tend to want some Blue Bell? I want Evan to think back to his childhood and think about the walks we have taken, us shooting hoops, and having long conversation when snaking on veggies. There is no reason that I can’t provide that for him.

It all rolls down to one thing for me in 2010….. I, Candice Daniel will not be the same person. I will continue everyday to Keep my head up and my eyes focused. I will not look back, just move forward!!!!