The Weight of It All

Weight……it’s something we all carry, but the difference is in 1) the make up of the load and 2) how we carry its contents.  Recently, I rebooted a weight loss journey (ahem…for real this time🙄), and it is still astonishing to me how much it parallels the trajectory of life’s journey in its totality.

Last week, while I was engaged in what’s called Wonder Woman Wednesday (yes, it’s as daunting as it sounds).  There were 2 specific tasks that had me aghast for a few seconds, because in my head, and the way my behind is set up, this just wasn’t going to happen. You see, I have an AMPLE bottom, not an APPLE bottom, and I kept saying to myself, “NOPE”!

As I was running, in the cold…in the dark, I kept saying, “I can’t do this”, but a little voice beside me kept saying “you are doing it” (there really was someone on the side of me saying that). I soldiered on, but the closer we got to our end point, out of the blue came the words “we’re gonna sprint when we get up there”. To that, I paused, all the while thinking, “God, I know that’s not you and you wouldn’t subject me to such a thing”. But when the voice said said “go”, somehow, I went.

After that trauma, I attempted to do vertical tire jump and for the life of me, I couldn’t will my feet to move from the ground at the same time. My feet might as well have been glued to the floor. This time I mouthed, “I can’t do this” (in the spirit of full disclosure, I might have added another ‘nice’ word or two), but the trainer evidently read my lips because she said, “yes you can…start one foot at a time”.  I still struggled because I didn’t trust my feet. I got one foot to go, but again, couldn’t will the other to move. Yes, the trainer saw me once again (y’all she sees everything, dang)! This time she passed me a stick to leverage my ascension and she simply said, “do it.”  In this instance, and in life, you have to know where your help comes from and not be afraid to accept it.

Why did I mention any of this? Well, you see, none of the tasks placed in front of me were an impossibility, but previous exposures, experiences, and thoughts nudged me into a space of “I can’t” instead of a place of “I will”.   We sometimes have a tendency to overestimate the magnitude of the obstacle and underestimate the capacity of our ability. As a result, many of our limitations become self-imposed.

In case you didn’t notice, both of these activities involved a heavy reliance on feet! Our feet bear the weight of our entire body, they hold up every thing that we place on them….until they can’t. The thing is, you never want to get to a point when your ‘sole’ source of mobility is hampered by the weight you have placed on them, therefore we have to watch what we carry and how we carry it.

We walk around shouldering a lot of weight that we do not need to haul, consequently, it will either hold us back, slow us down, or drown us completely and the only way to prevent any of that from happening is to release the unnecessary weight so that you can experience ascension.

1. Release the Weight of Self-Doubt
***Doubt causes you to operate in a deficit. It makes you focus on more of your cants than your cans, your inabilities than your abilities, and what you aren’t instead of what you are. You can’t doubt yourself and expect someone else to have confidence in you. You can do more than you think you can…even sprint😊

2. Release the Weight of O.P.O.
***It’s human nature to care what others think at one point or another, but there has to be a limit to level of Other People’s Opinion (O.P.O.) that you allow to saturate your mind. When you allow the opinions of others to dictate your thoughts, your desires, and your actions, you cheat yourself out of your own authenticity. And who are you if you’re not yourself? What you think about you is more important than someone else’s perception.

3. Release the Weight of Fear
*This is loaded. As I think about the fact that I would not move my feet to climb on that tire, a lot of it had to do with fear.  If I did not make it, I would fall flat on my face (which is not uncommon, as I am known to be clumsy); but on the other hand, if I did make it, I’d be expected to do it again!  If I am honest, that’s part of the reason why I haven’t written in this blog since January.  This is what we do to ourselves…we put all the hindrances in place, and then wonder why we stopped moving.  Some fear failure and believe it or not, some fear success.  An amplification of fear will leave you motionless. Fear can leave you stagnant, stuck, confused, redundant, reactive, inactive, complacent…the list can go on and on.   Don’t be afraid of your power; you just might have the strength to lift up someone else; don’t be afraid of your gifts and talents, you have something the world needs; don’t be afraid of failures, it teaches you how to become successful; and don’t be afraid of success because you deserve it.

4. Release the Weight of Past Mistakes
*Resist the urge to carry your past mistakes into your present existence. You have to remember that your present is a present. It’s a gift you unwrap daily. The unwrapping becomes difficult when it’s taped up with things like regret, confusion, hurt & unforgiveness. When it comes to mistakes, dwelling leads to derailment….stay on track (ha! see what I did there☺)

5. Release the Weight of O.P.B.
*When people we love are hurt, we want to heal them; when people we care about have a problem, we want to solve it; when people we are close to find themselves in trouble, we want to rescue them.  The problem with all of this is that we often travel with Other People’s Burdens causing a lull in our personal journey because all of their stuff can weigh you down. Its okay to be there and be supportive, but be careful not to allow your loyalty to others to become a liability to yourself.

Sometimes we don’t even know what’s holding us back until we finally try to make a move that we were hesitant to make; but rest assured, when it comes to the weight of it all, the release brings about relief.

Poetry Reference: It’s Time to Lose Some Weight2

Song Reference (Have a Listen):  Bag Lady-Erykah Badu

P.S.  Another Wonder Woman Wednesday came yesterday…I got both feet on that tire y’all…..one foot at a time, but in that moment, the glue was gone. lol!

P.P.S. Flex Friday is Coming….I will survive!!!