Saturday, November 12, 2016

Weight Loss and Change

I lost quite a bit of weight in the last year.  It was on purpose. I started by tracking my intake and monitoring food choices.  Before I knew it, the pounds melted away.  I dropped two pant sizes and had to completely flip my wardrobe. My body was transformed.

Strangely, it didn't always feel that way.

After losing twenty five pounds, I looked in the mirror one morning after getting out of the shower.  I couldn't discern a bit of difference.  I could see the same layers of skin and love handles as before. Although my outsides had changed drastically, my brain was stuck in its former state.  My internal version of myself was so deeply ingrained that I couldn't recognize that which was so obvious to my family and friends.

Sometimes I think I resist external change not only out of fear, but also because I am a creature of habit.  My brain often deceives me.

I now know cataclysmic change is upon us.

Unfortunately, it is exceedingly tempting to look into the mirror, as I have done many times, and convince myself that reality is as it was before.

I think this is dangerous.  I also think it is dangerous to consider the fact that we elected a buffoon as president the main problem.

The problem is that half the electorate felt so disenfranchised and desperate that they would knowingly elect a buffoon because they thought they had no other tenable option.

And yet, as I look back at the last eight years, I am filled with such optimism and hope.  I am so proud.

Or is that my brain again, tricking me into seeing a reality that no longer exists?

Maybe a reality, that for some, never existed.