Day 26 (already?) - Dream In Perfection

One of my blog buddies (and a great motivator) is Patrick (blog: Responsibility 199). He posted his mixed feelings (gladness and disappointment) at the "mere" half-pound loss of last week. YES, he is happy he recorded a loss in weight and all that, but he was hoping for more.

We all know that feeling, don't we?

His post talked about motivation, motivation to remain dedicated to the task at hand. (Patrick is not wobbling in his commitment, so no worries there.) This was actually a great post. It started me thinking about our need for perfection, how we realistically, intelligently, know better - but we dream in perfection, and we seek it in a lot of different ways, don't we? I know I do. And who actually achieves perfection? (Crickets are chirping - so that answer would be NO ONE.)

If I set my sights on losing a pound a week, and come up short on that, I would be similarly disappointed.

Losing weight is hard work. It was much more easy, and fun, putting it on. Somehow, that seems unfair now, but there it is. This hard work requires so much more than mere discipline and the mechanics of knowing what to do - and applying it. It requires consistency (often) over great lengths of time. That is not an easy thing for human beings. The struggle is as much mental as it is physical. We have to change behaviors, long-standing habits, and the hardest of all - expectations.

So, for this Monday, I am going to add "less perfection" as one of the things I need to strive to accept. I have to be careful not to let my need to succeed set me up for failure. (How many of us, in the past, have fallen off the plan, only to quit entirely?) Perfection won't get me to my goals, but consistency will - with less perfection, perhaps, but in the end my health wins, so it is all good.

I will hit my one-month mark on Friday - hard to believe! These four weeks have really gone by quickly so far. I'm excited to see where one month will bring me ...