Taking out the trash.

I have never been good about keeping my car clean. On ANY level. When I was a young adult, maybe around 19, I was complaining to my father about how disorganized and out of sorts I felt, all of the time. I felt like I was in a constant funk. My dad said "have you ever considered the inside of your car? You drive around in a garbage heap, all of the time. How can you feel good about what you're doing or where you are going when you're sitting in garbage every day?" He wasn't being mean... he was just stating the facts. And what he said made a real impression with me... he was right! I still struggled with keeping the car clean, but his words stayed with me and I still apply them to my life today.

Life has been VERY busy and overwhelming, lately. I've had to work a lot more in the office and with two kids, a home, and a business, I've lost the routine I've come to depend on. My thoughts can be consumed with things like... "I've got to clean out my car" or... "I'm so unhappy with my weight" but instead of DOING something about it, I worry about it. Analyze it.... and get nothing done. In the last week I've told Eric about 10 times "I'm going to clean out my car today" but I never got out there to do it. And every time I drove my car, I'd wonder WHERE DO THE GOATS THAT LIVE IN MY CAR HIDE WHENEVER I ENTER MY VEHICLE ... but I didn't simply clean it out. And each time I (God forbid) had a PASSENGER in my car, I'd make excuses about why it was so dirty (goats) and I'd scoop up a couple of cups but still not take the time to properly clean out my vehicle.

However - - TODAY WAS DIFFERENT. Today I ran out of excuses and I rolled up my sleeves (and Corbin's) and we CLEANED the car. And it felt good! I can't wait take Lauren to school in the morning in my luxurious, good-smelling, sparkley, CLEAN car.

Here's the million dollar question...

What took me so long?

And this is where weight loss comes in. Just like I deserve to drive around in a beautiful, clean, comfortable car... I deserve to have the body that I want to have. And I can come up with every excuse in the world (goats) but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter if I didn't make it happen. I don't want to go through this life "driving around in a garbage heap..."

It's time to quiet the daily internal dialogue... I bet you've heard it, too. That little voice that says "you haven't been to the gym in a week." And "do you feel your stomach getting bigger?" And... "don't you want to eat one of the kid's Little Debbies?" (or three?) And replace those words with "I can do this." Or "I've worked out five times this week and I can't wait to weigh myself tomorrow!"

It's time for the burning to begin, again... Cleaning out the car was my STEP ONE. I'll be at the gym at 8:30AM tomorrow for step two....... Now. What's YOUR step one? And are you ready to give up your excuses and start living, too?