Looking Back to Look Forward

As I was getting my hair done Saturday, enjoying a little girl talk with my stylist, the topic of weight loss came up. We’d been talking about my goals, about my struggles to regain motivation. Over the course of the conversation, she said something that didn’t seem all that significant at the time – it was something I’d heard before, said before and was admittedly a little dismissive about – but her words have lingered, proving they were not insignificant. She simply said, “just look how far you’ve come.”

This morning, her advice still echoing in my mind, I dug deep – all the way down to Photobucket (anyone remember that?) and dug up an old photo of myself at my highest weight. How could I have been so flippant about my progress? Looking at that photo, remembering all the negative, hurtful feelings I lived with back then (not to mention the negative, hurtful things people said to and about me) and I realized I have been taking for granted how far I’ve come, how hard I’ve worked and how much I have achieved. I have been so focused on being pissed off at myself for regaining some weight that I have been cavalier about the 87 and pounds, 12.2 BMI points, and 5 dress sizes I have lost. I’ve lost 30% of my body weight and I am being hard on myself… really? I have transformed so dramatically and I am questioning whether or not I can go on? Seriously?

What a blessing those words were to me on Saturday. Whether she knows it or not, my stylist gave me a tremendous gift in making me remember, making me acknowledge where I’ve been and where I am now. “Just look at how far you’ve come.”