You Haven't Failed Until You've Stopped Trying

The title of this blog was posted as a comment on one of my earlier blogs by Christy, one of my blog followers. It struck a cord with me and has been rambling around in my head ever since.

I think too many of us have decided that we've failed in the health game. I know I had! I looked at the fact that I was fat and didn't look the way I wanted as failure. But the fact is that I'd never really given up on myself enough to stop trying to be fit and a healthy weight, so I was never officially at "failure" status. And unless you've thrown up your hands and said "I'm never trying to get healthy again.... Please pass the cupcakes!", you aren't a failure, either.

I've said before and I will say again that unless a doctor has said to you "It is unwise for you to eat healthy foods at a calorie level that will enable you to lose weight, and you should not do any physical activity of any kind", any reason you have for not taking care of yourself isn't a reason: It's an excuse.

When I tore my rotator cuff I was informed that lifting weights and any jarring motions would be bad for me. The only exercise I was cleared to do was walking.

So I walked.

When I was recovering from surgery, 3 of them in the past 3 1/2 years, I was only approved by my surgeons to walk for exercise.

So I walked.

Did I like walking? No. Did I feel like it was really exercise, after being accustomed to hitting the weights and doing the elliptical at a vigorous pace? No. But did I understand that not following my doctors' orders and doing any more physical activity besides walking could result in big problems for my body? Yes. Did I want to give my body the benefits that would come from something even as simple as walking? Yes.

So I walked.

A lot.

And I'd like to point out that none of my doctors gave me a free pass to eat crap. I probably don't need to list reasons why feeding your body garbage while it's trying to repair itself is not a good idea. So I tried to keep my diet high in nutrient-rich foods.

My point is that I did what I could. And I wasn't failing, even though I was fat for two of the three surgeries, because I had not stopped trying.

As long as you are still trying, there is still hope for you. And there is ALWAYS hope for you.

Youu ARE worth the effort: This is something you have to tell yourself if you are to make positive changes. But whatever you want to achieve CAN be accomplished, one way or the other.

It's never to late!

One foot in front of the other. That's trying..... And that's success!