I was hiking last weekend and came across this tree and thought, “What a weird shape”. Then I realized that it somewhat looked like my shape. I could not resist taking a picture and using it as motivation to lose weight.
I did not know if I would keep the picture to myself or share it. As you can see, I am sharing it. It made me think about how we all let ourselves go at times. For some of us it is about weight. For others, it is about giving up on our goals. Someone else may fall away from the church. We all slip in some form or fashion.
Why is that? It is because our priorities change. Being humans, we can only concentrate on a few things at a time and those become our priorities. Sometimes, it is the people around us and our situations that dictate what a priority to us is. Do you remember when you were in school (high school or college) and what was important to you then? More times than not it was the social scene.
As you get older, your priorities change again and now it may be that your career is the most important thing to you. I have a friend that I kid with about her hair being the most important thing to her. It has been a long standing joke between us for close to 15 years. Sometimes the peer pressure of what society expects out of us is greater than what we can produce. That can lead to serious personal confidence issues, and in my case years ago, depression.
What do we need to do to correct this path that we are going down? You need to determine what is really important to you. Set realistic and measurable goals to get yourself to the place where you want to be. This may be physically, mentally, career related or spiritually related as a few examples. Surround yourself with people that are going to keep you going in that direction. If there are people in your life that are a distraction and will pull you from your goals, then reduce the amount of time that you spend with them or work them out of your normal routine. Do not let them influence your behavior in a way that gets you to slip.
What areas of your life have you let go? What are your priorities going forward? Please share your comments below. If there are blog topics that you would like me to expand on further to help you achieve your priorities, let me know.
