The gift of time

Time has become the greatest luxury of all. We are so pressed for time, that we talk on the phone while we are doing twenty other things, and we listen to books on tape while we drive, and we rush from one thing to the next, with our minds filled with what needs to be done at the things after that.
What this time that we have spent at Project Transformation has done for us, while it has filled our schedules even more, it has given us the time to think of ourselves, our needs, and most importantly of our health and its long term implications. No one can say what will happen tomorrow, but odds are good that if we eat right, exercise, sleep enough, and practice good health regimens, we will extend the years in our lives, and more importantly, extend the life in our years.
This time of year is a time of change, looking forward, putting our mark on the future. Kids go back to school, the summer is over and families settle into routines, vacations are mostly behind us, and we begin to plan for the end of another calendar year. For me this is a time of contemplation. My religion teaches us that we must think of promises that we have made in the past year that we have not kept, and make amends. It is good to be reminded of this or we forget that we must keep our word, we must follow through, we must thank and we must be grateful for our many blessings. I remind myself that I want to fit more kindness into my life, and I am reminded that I, too, must be a recipient of my own kindness. We moms have to take our turn at being the most important person in the family every now and then,(dads probably do, too) and we have to become much more sensitive to unconscious self sabotage of our accomplishments.
We have been given the gift of time, and we have used it to increase self awareness in our food intake, to increase our strength and resolve, and now we have to use it, and practice it and expand it. While I exercise, I am not thinking of what needs to be done next, I am giving it my whole heart and attention. That was but one of the many gifts we have received. So now I promise that the block of time that I am putting on my calendar to set aside for working out, will be a gift that keeps on giving, one in which I continue to pay close attention to what I am doing. I promise that I will not fall back into bad or sloppy eating habits. I promise that I will take care of myself as well as I have been taken care of over the last six months.
It is with a sense of loss that we now have to contemplate the end of our program as it was. We were pampered and pummeled, taught and tested, weighed and measured, but most of all we were cared for. Who will not miss being asked if we would like a glass of water? Who will not miss the luxury of having someone, or rather many people, who really cared about our progress, who kept a close watch on how we were treating ourselves. It is now up to us to keep that watch, to be not only a team member, but the Captain as well. As we map out strategies, and plan our exercise regimes, it is important to keep those goals in front of us, to keep moving in the direction of the goals that we set out toward at the beginning. Some of us have made our goals, and have only to keep maintaining them. Some of us still have a ways to go, but let no one say that they can't do it, because the evidence is there that you, we all, have done it and can keep continuing to do it.
So, today, as we prepare to take fitness "after" pictures, let's take a minute to think about all we have done, all there is left to do, and to thank those who have been with us all the way, encouraging us, urging us, applauding us and teaching us.
To all of the CHLI staff, the hotel staff, and everyone who we have come into contact with over this time, Thanks a Million. We couldn't have done it without you. But we are going to keep making you proud of our progress.