Normal
As I was squeezing into my fitted shirts this week and noticing how uncomfortably tight the necks were and how uncomfortably constraining the belly-bulge was and how that dress belt was now one loop larger – I felt uncomfortable.
But I think this discomfort is not a bad thing. This discomfort means that I have internalized that other me that fits into my shirts and that other me is my norm, my official self-image. That’s a good thing.
It is a mental tool that I have to use to keep my ‘normal’ in a certain range. I used to be 30 pounds heavier, when I started this adventure, and I’m always amazed at how I made THAT my normal. When I started to get skinnier it was as surprising to me as getting heavier is now because it was a change from normal. Eventually I internalized, adjusted to and celebrated the new normal.
I had a lady get on the plane with me this week who was at least 400 pounds. She had to go sideways down the aisle. It was a small regional jet and she sat next to, and somewhat on top of, me. Whenever I see folks like this I wonder what happened in their brains that they accepted this as their normal?
The truth is that it is as uncomfortable for them to change out of their normal as it is for me to change out of my normal.
The deeper truth is that they, you, I, all of us define our own ‘normal’. Before you can change, for good or for worse, you have to accept that change.
What are you going to decide is your normal?
And, as is my normal, I will see you out there.