Taking Life by The Balls

How many times have we all said we were going to change our lives? New Year's Resolutions; Diets; Quit Smoking Programs; New jobs; Going back to School.... The list could go on and on. But how many times do we really stick with it and make real changes? How often do we stay on that path to our true dreams?

It's easy to keep it up for a day, maybe even a week, but anything longer than that starts to get tedious. All kinds of little voices pop up in our heads saying, "You don't have to do that today. You're so tired, you barely slept at all. Go ahead, just once cigarette, you deserve it." or "You can eat that chocolate cake, you were so good last week, it's just one piece." But every time you break down, that same voice is there in your ear saying, "Ha! I knew you couldn't do it. You ALWAYS fail, and here you are again, doing the one thing you said you weren't going to do. You're so lazy and you'll never be able to change your life."

If we choose to listen to those voices that are constantly rationalizing the pathway to our demise, we will never change. We will wake up ten years from now exactly the same as we are today. Broke. Fat. Lazy.

The things we most want to change are always going to be the things those voices rise up against the hardest. If you want to lose weight, the voices in your head are going to whisper sweet nothings about all of the food you have sworn off during your diet. If you want to stop smoking, you will suddenly start craving a cigarette like there's no tomorrow. You will notice everyone else who is smoking and you will make up a thousand excuses why now is just not the time to stop. ("I'm just too stressed out right now" etc.)

I don't have the answer to how to overcome it yet, because for the most part, I too have been caving in to those little voices for the better part of a decade now. But the thing is, I'm so tired of being less than what I know I can be. I'm so tired of knowing that the only thing holding me back from the life of my dreams... is me. I'm slowly realizing that the key to beating those voices is simply to be ready for war. It's time to see those voices as the enemies they really are. Every little thing you do in a day is not going to make you happy. Immediate gratification is the hymn those voices sing to us, but the truth is that nothing worth fighting for ever comes easy. If you want to lose weight, you have to forget about immediate gratification and keep your eye on the goal ahead of feeling better, having more energy, and looking amazing. Honestly, if you look at that pizza and then you think about the "YOU" after you've lost weight, which is more appetizing?

In order to reach my goals, I have to start thinking about long term gratification. Every choice I make today has an impact on my life tomorrow. I know that if I can consistently make the right choices today and every day, I will reach my goals. But if I listen to the voices that tell me today is not a good day to diet or that just one cigarette won't kill me, I've lost a day of my own happiness and my own dreams coming true. Today is the day I grab life by the balls and take control of my own situation. Wish me luck. No, even more than that, wish me the courage to deny myself gratification today so that I might have what I really want in the future.