It's All in How You Look At It

This mornings weight: 158

I got a bit scared the other day when I saw the needle on the bathroom scale charge to 161. I must have been a bad boy for a little while. So down to business and get back to 160. Guess you can see I went further than that! I have found that once you have lost the weight and have maintained it at the new level for some time that it is very easy to lose a pound or two in 24 - 36 hours. Apparently, once you know how it ain't no thing anymore.

This post, however, is not really about my abilities to lose poundage at will. I want to talk a little about conquering fears. And to do that I want to tell a story. A true story of perspective.

As I recall these events took place one early morning, oh, about 8ish. It was on one of my walks and I was at the halfway mark at the time. Walking along the left shoulder of the road I passed a series of sandbags that was stacked along the periphery of a construction site. Not much in the way of unusualness in that except for the life and death drama about to take place.

On one of the sandbags sat a pill bug. Soaking up some of the early morning sun I suppose. The smallish bug must have felt every footfall that I was producing as I walked along. Sorta like mini earthquakes. The closer they came the more nervous the bug became. Finally, as I drew almost abreast of his position, he bolted across the sandbag to hide.

Unbeknownst to my little bug friend someone else was also looking at him. Someone that was very hungry. Someone that was waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. That someone was a slightly built and wickedly fast lizard. She too could feel my footfalls. She too was at the point of panic when I drew near. But she had a goal that overshadowed her fears. She was hungry. As soon as the bug bolted the lizard met it lickedy split on the sandbag and devoured it. Then off to a shady spot as far from me and as hidden as it could be from my eyes.

The drama had thus ended.

So, what are the lessons here. Well, number one, look before you leap. If you just go blindly through life a really very bad thing is gonna happen. Blindly reacting through fear to circumstances is a recipe for disaster. Number two, stay focused on your goal. That lizard was not going to let me spoil her breakfast. She had a burning desire to eat and she was not about to let me distract her from it. Finally, number three, over coming fear by letting it work for you is a reward in itself. That lizard let me provoke the pill bug into running away blindly, with no regard to safety. A very fatal mistake.

Ya know, I'd much rather be a lizard than a pill bug. I got goals. Do you?