The Word of the Day

D O U B T - to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe....to distrust... to fear; be apprehensive about

In every brain there is a tiny little person whose only job is to question everything. As the brain gets lazy and weak that little person gets a little more control and tends to voice his opinion a little more often. Apparently the only way to put this little person in his place is to boldly go where your brain has never been before. To push yourself to do something you would never do, normally. To succeed at something you have only seen other people succeed at.... and even when you do succeed, his voice will still be there. A little bit quieter.. but still there.

For me this little persons name is The Doubter. I hear his voice whenever I start to question my ability to do anything. On some days it could be as small as just getting the dishes done.

At 220 lbs I heard him all the time. In fact, he became a good friend of mine. I felt like I could believe anything he said to me. One day I saw a picture of myself and even his voice boomed loud: "WOW, YOUR FAT!......but you'll never be different."

I only heard those two words. Your Fat. I took a long look at myself.... about 3 months worth of looking, before I finally started to wonder what I was doing to myself. Every time I wanted to start losing weight I would get half way thru that first day before T.D. would voice his opinion. 'You have too much to lose, you'll never get it done'..... 'you know you cant stop eating bread, your addicted' .... 'you will never be a skinny girl, so why bother?'

But the more I tried the quieter he got. On some days he never even said a word! For two years I tried to shut him up and in doing so I lost 40 lbs. I have 28 lbs left to lose before I hit my goal weight and , let me tell you, he is trying his best to let me know what he thinks.....

He comes back every now and then for the old 'I told you so' comments, but now I am determined to prove him wrong. Whenever he starts talking I just do something to shut him up... like succeed!

There have been a lot of people posting about 'self doubt' the past couple of days. It is a common thread that we all share when it comes to wanting to succeed at something. The fact is, there will always be doubt when facing something new and unknown to us. Just because you cant see the finished product does not mean there wont be one. The only way to overcome it is to push thru it. Question your doubts. If you are doubting that you can lose 100 lbs + ... then question why you think you cant do it. Then prove to yourself that you can! We are not stuck with what we have , we are stuck with what we give up on. Don't give up......

There is a great essay written by a friend of mine who shows you what can happen when you push that doubt aside.