motivational quotes: week two

This week’s quote is from William Faulkner, and he really pushed me to do my best through the second (and some say the hardest) week of my efforts to become a happier, healthier me. 

“Don’t bother to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.”

I love this quote because it illustrates one of the biggest holdups I’ve had about exercising and struggling to lose weight and get into shape. I constantly compare myself to people around me. When I see them succeed, I’m happy for them, but it just becomes another brick in my stubborn wall that blocks my view of success. I immediately think, “I’ll never make that much progress so fast, I’ll never reach those goals! They beat me already! How can I compete with that? And I don’t want to follow the program they followed, I will hate that!” And I’d eat another oatmeal crème pie and watch Pirates of the Caribbean for the umpteenth time, yearning for Keira Knightley’s lighter-than-air frame.

But then it clicked about, oh, two weeks ago? I’m not meant to do what everyone else has done. I am my own person, I have my own strengths and weaknesses, I have a set of programs and rules and ideas that work for me and ones that don’t. I hate when people start suggesting what you should be doing to lose weight. I always want to screech for them to butt out and leave me alone because what I’m doing is working for me and that’s all it has to work for. I have done research, I have planned, I have weighed the pros and cons and potential outcomes in my head. And this works for me: Daily cardio exercise, eating on a scheduled basis (avoiding unnecessary sweets, soda, and fast food), and maintaining decent portion control. 

That works for me, that makes me better than myself, because the Gina that existed two weeks ago woke up an hour before work and spent that hour lounging around until hopping into the shower ten minutes before work and then rushing out the door, grabbing Chic-Fil-A on the way, and zoning out for the eight hour work day and then coming home and staying up until five or six in the morning to wash, rinse, repeat. I’m already doing better than that! I’ve bettered myself immensely in the past two weeks! 

William Faulkner would be proud. And I’m certainly proud. I have a long way to go, but I’ve started out so strong, there’s no way I’m turning back, slowing down, or giving up now! Onward, upward, let’s go!