When All The Pieces Fit

I could argue, and win, that I have the best family ever. I am the only sane sibling in the family. The rest are a tad bit crazy and wild (I hope you can sense the little bit of sarcasm in my voice). Although we all have the same mom and dad, we are very different from one another. My oldest sister and I are ten years apart, which is a whole generation of difference between us. Terra is very into things that bring peace and quiet to her day. She loves to paint, listen to calm music, and be outside by herself enjoying nature. I on the other hand can’t get enough of people and love high energy and fast moving sports. I’m loud, and I don’t ever stop talking, even in my sleep. Terra and I understand that we are very different from each other, but we still do our best to spend time together. But, there is one activity Terra does that I just cannot bring myself to do with her: jig saw puzzles.

Jig saw puzzles make my skin crawl, and my brain hurt. The idea that 1,000 little pieces come together perfectly to create an image baffles me. Each piece has only one place that it fits perfectly in the entire puzzle. I can be as much help as to set the four corners and pull the edge pieces out when it comes to puzzles. But, today I had an epiphany. Whenever I start to think about maybe wanting to lose some weight, I can only think of the end result. The ideal Serene, at 170 pounds or so, is what I see. A picture of me skinnier and healthier is in the distance, and I always fail to see what pieces come together to create it. I get so frustrated and overwhelmed thinking about all of the things I have to do to get there that I quit. All I think about is that I have to eat less, move more, work harder, sleep often, drink less of this, don’t think about eating that and on and on.

If losing weight is my jig saw puzzle, I start by finding my four corner pieces, separate out the edge, and set up the box to see what I’m working towards. My problem has always been that I try to start from the middle, and that is when it all becomes too overwhelming. When it comes to losing weight, each of us must start one piece at a time. It is 1,000 different things that make up the final picture of weight loss. So, for my weight loss, I have to remember everything will fall into place with all the little pieces. One day at a time...one jig saw puzzle piece at a time!

One Less Day