Choices

Until we finish school, college or University, most of our workload is dictated by our teachers and our professors. They give out the homework and assignments to be done, and the studying we must do to pass the exam. We are then rewarded for our efforts in the form of marks or feedback.

Unfortunately, this doesn't continue. After graduating, we are on our own. There is no one to keep us reading the right books, congratulating us for a job well done, or giving us a grade for our results.

We must realize we are our own teachers. We must decide for ourselves what is right or wrong; should we do this, or that? As vague as this sounds, it is our reality. We can eat what we want, exercise or not exercise; read to enhance our knowledge, or not read. No marks. No pass. No failure. However, at the end of the day we must realize that our happiness, our health, our self-confidence, depends on those decisions. Choices! We make them, but there is no one there to direct us, decide for us, congratulate us, or give us ideas for the morrow.

It is easy to drift. So easy. Easy to eat those snacks which we shouldn't have purchased. Easy to skip an exercise session because we felt too tired, or it was too cold to drive to the gym. Easy to watch TV on the couch, when we could have watched the same program while walking on the treadmill. Small choices lead to happiness and confidence and health; other choices lead to weight gain, worsening health and the feeling of being disappointed in oneself.

We go to bed and wake up thinking today, hopefully today, I will have the motivation to resist the bread or do a short workout. If we ‘hope', there is no success. The day will be one of eating and no exercise, and we will then ‘hope' for tomorrow or next week.

Small choices, big results. Determine tonight, that tomorrow you will do some sort of exercise. Why? It's healthy for you, you will feel good about yourself when it's done, it relieves stress, we grow neurons, and it may settle the reward centre of the brain, which searches for snacks.

Determine, for yourself, that tomorrow, you will have no snacks healthy or otherwise. We do not need this extra food. Challenge yourself. You won't die. Keep busy; read a book; anything to keep your mind occupied such that you aren't automatically going to the cupboard for a snack.

Any good choice you make whether doing some activity or skipping snacks is an "A” as far as I'm concerned. Ultimately we want a series of these "A's” until you no longer have to use willpower and it has become a habit.

This is for you. You are the teacher, and the student. No one is judging you: you are the one judging yourself; giving yourself the ‘mark'; determining if it was a good day or a bad day.

The last question I have is, ‘How hard is it?' Worded another way, is it harder to make easy choices that lead to weight gain and poor fitness or is it easier to make hard choices that lead to weight loss and a more fit vibrant self?

I make poor choices constantly, but I know those choices are mine to deal with and to change. So I try not to make too many ‘bad day choices' in a row, not because I'm stronger mentally than anyone else but simply because I don't like the person I become if those bad choices last too long. My goals? Simple. Energy! To be able to play and lift and do somersaults, or jump up and off couches with my grandson. I want to be strong and flexible and a role model for him.

What is your goal? What choices will you make tomorrow?

You can do it. I know you can. Don't give up. Determine who you want to be, and make simple ‘hard' choices, daily.

Dr. B