Friday Quote Day

There are no secrets to success. 

It is the result of preparation, hard work

and learning from failure.
~ Colin Powell

Oh, how I wish there were a secret. Yesterday when I was channeling Oprah, I recalled the video she produced years and years ago, in which she said if there was a magic potion she would buy it, she would have it.

That's how I feel, too.

At least I have the hard work part down pat. I'd have to say I'm pretty good in the preparation department, too. Since failure (to lose weight) has been a part of my life for a good three years now, I'd have to say I'm not learning how to learn from it.

In AA we say that "acceptance is the answer to all my problems today." Perhaps this constant state of unacceptance about my body is blocking success. I'm concerned, however, that accepting me just the way I am will lead to even more weight gain. My general MO is that if a little is enough, then more must be better. Therefore if too much is okay, then how could a little more hurt? (Do you even have to ask how I ended up in AA? Heh.)

That premise is ridiculous, of course. I must continue to console myself that all this hard work – the gardening, the yard work, the five-mile walks, the normal daily routine of cleaning a house, cooking meals, doing laundry – is good for my heart, lungs, muscles and more.

So far it hasn't done much for my psyche. Or my waistline.

But we also say in AA that "this, too, shall pass." (Actually they don't put the commas in, but I think they should be there. Compulsive? Moi?) I might be dead when this, too, passes, but it's pretty much a given that one day, someday, my weight won't be a problem any longer.