Things Happen for a Reason

Always having been a believer in the sentiment that "things happen for a reason", I have thought of this phrase several times recently. I think that all of us Project Transformationists are dealing with mixed feelings that our time with the Project is reaching its end. I think that I can say that without exception, all of us have done better than we could have imagined, losing weight, getting fitter, feeling better, seeing surprising and very pleasing changes in our test results. But the thrill of this is mixed with some degree of trepidation about being able to sustain all that we have done and continue to use all that we have learned. We have not reached the end of the journey, or the top of the mountain, but have miles to go yet. And then there is the very real work that will go into maintaining all of the gains we have made once our goals have been reached.
We have , I think that I can say without exception, appreciated how lucky we have been to have been the recipients of all of the attention of the Community of Caring that is CHLI, and the courtesy and helpfulness of all of the staff of the hotel and spa that we have interacted with, that has without doubt been pleasant and rewarding. But now it is time for us to 'leave the nest', to be out in the real world, to fly on our own, to arrange our world so that we still have all of the elements that have made the journey possible: accountability, diligence, balance, hard work, and patience. And to realize that continuing the journey will reap the rewards of continued good health and fitness.
I was so pleasantly surprised to reexamine the papers that we had filled out at the beginning of the program, when we set goals, and designed strategies to make those goals a reality. I had done just about all of the things that I set out to do, setting goals, designing small Kaizen steps to reach those goals, and defining what the barriers to success might be so that they can be dealt with before they become a problem, along with identifying supports and rewardss, extrinsic sources of motivations. I never did identify any rewards on my sheet, but now that I have achieved some of the goals, I can see that the rewards might have been having to revamp my wardrobe, wearing things that might not have been comfortable for me to wear before. Internal rewards are being realized often when people compliment me on how good I look, and I feel good about it.
So the things that have happened for a reason are first and foremost, the winning of the contest that made such a difference in our lives and the lives of our families, because the learning that we have done has benefitted not only ourselves, but spouses and children as well. Another is the sense of self that we have gained. For me there was a learning curve to taking my place at the "front of the line" not all the time but certainly sometimes. Learning to make the time to get fit equally important as all the other things that we somehow manage to schedule into our days has set us up to be on our own, and to still set aside time for this very important activity. And now, being cut loose also has a reason. Taking the opportunity to order our lives in such a way as to maintain our achievements and set new and perhaps differet goals for ourselves. As kids, we had the opportunity to set goals of good grades, or awards, or scholarships, or athletic wins. Later we had educational goals perhaps, graduating college, advanced degrees, jobs, and personal goals of marriage and children. Now we have the responsibility of other personal goals that only we can control: Maintaining health and fitness to the best of our abilities, staying active, being aware, recognizing when we need help and seeking it out.
So as we phase out of this very rewarding place that we have been so fortunate to have been blessed with, we will take with us a renewed sense of life and self, what it means to have goals and to work hard to achieve them, and the very real rewards of being healthy and fit and continuing along this path for the foreseeable future.