May 29, 2018 marks the fifth anniversary of reaching my weight loss goal; I’m feeling proud. It’s a milestone and it helps me reflect on how much being 75 pounds overweight held me back. In the five years since I lost the weight I’ve accomplished and experienced a great deal and I have come through some difficult times. I’ve grown tremendously from it.
Immediately after shedding the weight, I understood how huge a deal that was for me, physically and mentally; however, it isn’t until now, five years later that I can stand back and see a more comprehensive view of its impact. Losing the weight has allowed me to be free to discover my true self, to learn to love myself, and to share myself with the world, unapologetically.
During those five years, I cared for my dying mother and grieved her death gracefully, coming out on the other side stronger, more trusting in life, more faithful in God. I returned to Virginia after taking care of her estate affairs in New Jersey and landed a job very quickly, only to have to deal with some unpleasant treatment there initially. I dealt with that situation gracefully too, and things started to flow for me at work. I became a valued resource to management and my peers. In 2014 I started to travel and explore, attending my 25th College Reunion in Massachusetts and going to Montreal and Quebec City Canada. To prepare for that trip I began to learn French again. In 2015 I enrolled in school to become a certified life coach and I opened my own coaching practice. I continued traveling, this time to France, and continued to improve my French. In 2016 I became a member of Toastmasters International and learned the craft of speechmaking, earning my Competent Communicator designation. I also was inspired to write and I published my first book, Growing Bold: How to Overcome Fear, Build Confidence, and Love the Life You Live in which I dedicate an entire chapter, “Shedding the Past”, to my weight loss journey. In 2017 I recorded and published the audio version of Growing Bold. And armed with the lessons of the prior four years I began seriously working my plan to create a new life for myself living in France, breaking belief barriers and challenging deep-seated assumptions about what was possible for me in the process.
And this year, 2018, I discarded the adage “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” which had guided me for way too many years, and I replaced it with “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” In January I left my job on a high note and nine days later I boarded a plane bound for France to realize my dream of living there.
None of this would have been possible for me if I hadn’t done the physical and emotional work to lose the weight. None of this would have been possible if I hadn’t continued to do the work to maintain my weight loss. Now in 2018, five years after hitting my goal weight, I continue that work. It’s easier work now; I’ve formed healthy habits that are now part of my lifestyle. I’ve done the, sometimes unpleasant, inner work to develop my self-confidence and self-esteem. And I’ve learned (and am still learning) to trust my gut instincts, my intuition, to guide me on this wild ride we call life. What started out as a laser focused, grim-determined attempt to take back control of some element in my life (what foods I ate) has morphed into this amazing and extremely liberating journey that I am fortunate to call my life.
You probably are familiar with that weight loss commercial that asks, “What will you gain when you lose?” My response is: Freedom.