Day 3-Toil and Tranquility- Ecclesiastes 4:6

I am a type A personality at the heart of things. I am that guy that can’t be ok with doing the speed limit, I am that guy that can’t sit and watch a movie without having something else going on in my mind; planning for next week, figuring out what to do about the bills that are still due after the money is gone, whatever else may be going on in my head. I do not do nearly enough going with the flow. Another problem I have is that I demand efficiency and speed of myself. I can’t just do stuff at a comfortable pace. When I take up the task, I am looking for the fastest way to do it. I lost 100 pounds in 8 or so months. I kicked that tasks butt! Wait, look at that scale and tell me I kicked that tasks butt….. negative Ghostrider. I went after that goal of 199 with a vengeance. It worked for the short term, but what ultimately did my toil gain me? Not permanent weight loss obviously. So one of the things I am trying this go around is to not go at it like a wild man, but to take some common sense steps and not starve myself and exercise a little too much. I am going to try to do a little less toil, and use a little more tranquility. That is the lesson in the above verse. “It is better to have one handful with tranquility than to have two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” Long story short, dump the type A tendencies, and enjoy this long leisurely journey down the scale. Make some changes that aren’t so drastic as the last time but that will lead to success. If I don’t drop 3 pounds a week, that is ok. My body will be less likely to go into “damage repair mode” and put it back on when I am not “on”. Plus if it takes me two years for 60 pounds, then I will have rebooted and made new habits that I have been creating for a couple of years. I know that this all sounds good on paper, but I have no doubt it will be a struggle to be ok with no loss one week and 1 lb lost next week. I will want to make some change like cut back 500 calories and add some more cardio, or find some supplement that may get me over the hump, or some other move that will cater to my need to achieve fast results. Guarantee that it will be a difficult instinct to fight, but if I want to find that tranquility at the end, I will need to employ some tranquility at the beginning and in the middle. I am tired of toil and chasing after the wind.