Pivotal Choices

Small choices makes BIG impacts!

Have you ever noticed that sometimes it's the "small" choices that we make which don't seem that drastic at the time that end up having a tremendous impact down the road?  These are pivotal moments that set us in motion down a path which holds the potential to change our entire lives!

I think every single one of us encounters several "pivotal moments" where we have to make a choice that literally molds a part of who we are (whether for the good or bad).

This past weekend I had an epiphany that really had me digging deep. It's funny how something simple can usher you into a thought process that blows your mind. So let me set the stage that led to this "epiphany" if you will.  I was cleaning out some old papers in my car on Sunday morning when I came across a referral note from my doctor dated 12/16/08.  It had a business card attached to it for a local weight loss surgeon.  The referal note read, "Pt has BMI 58 will be unable to reach healthy BMI in next year."

Finding this note in my car was like striking gold!  I remember when this note was written. This note was written after one of the FEW times I ever reached out and openly sought counsel on the condition of my weight and I really felt like change was impossible.  This note was written at a point in my life where I didn't believe in my own ability to lose weight so for good reason, my doctor didn't either. This note was written after years of office visits where my weight steadily increased with each check-up, but all my vitals returned "normal" so I'd convince myself that I was "OK" and would just continue on with life as I knew it: Overweight, UNhealthy, insecure and UNhappy.

The more I looked at that note, the more my heart was filled with joy as I was reminded of "who" I was and where I am today.  As you can imagine, it was hard to wipe the smile off of my face on Sunday morning.  Furthermore, I began to ponder the date: mid-December 2008. In mid-December 2008 there was nothing in me that believed in myself. Now fast-forward (but not too far).  The end of January 2009 is when I stumbled across my first episode of The Biggest Loser and got inspired! February 2, 2009, I gave God my inability and started seeking Him for His ability to help me gain my life back.  In 1 1/2 months I went from a mental state of hopelessness and disbelief to FULL of hope that I could change!  This was still only a hope for change though, not a full assurance and KNOWING that it would happen...Now, back to present tense and onto my epiphany.  Later in the day of re-disovering that doctor's note, I also found myself in the drive-thru of Taco John's for a poorly planned fast-food dinner (not thinking much about the note anymore).  As I pulled through the drive-thru, there was a severly obese man working the window.  IMMEDIATELY, I was taken back to that note and really felt a deep sense of compassion for that man.  A flood of emotions rushed over me as I realized that "he" is who I was.  The only difference between me and him is one small, uneasy and personally pivotal choice that set me in motion down a path with the potential to change my entire life...AND IT HAS!

My weight had robbed me for countless years of JOY, peace, confidence, boldness and even my identity in Christ.  That day I made a seemingly small choice that was VERY pivotal.  That day I chose a path that would take some work, but I also believed it'd lead to a better life.  I really didn't have much insight or vision of what the future would be like that day, it was really a moment of living in the "here and now" because everything else was still so unimaginable.  I had no clue where it'd take me, what it'd be like and honestly didn't even have the full-confidence that I'd really succeed, but I still took those exciting first steps.

There are so many people out there who don't even realize that it's just one, small, pivotal choice that will change the rest of their lives.  Ones who, like me, can't even imagine what their life will look like down the road, but are willing to take those exciting first steps to discovery.  WOW...


1st photo was in January 2009, less than a month before making a PIVOTAL CHOICE that is changing my life!



ICING ON THE CAKE: When I found that doctor's note on Sunday, it was right after reaching yet another "milestone" on my journey. Not even 30 minutes prior, I had just finished a 6.5 mile training run (non-stop) in preparation for my first offical 10K race!  I'M DAILY AMAZED!

ALL OF THIS CAME FROM ONE PIVOTAL CHOICE!



Check out my FIRST blog entry on this journey here: http://rebornwright.blogspot.com/2009/04/12-week-competition.html

Check out my 411 page for my weight loss story: http://rebornwright.blogspot.com/p/411.html

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.