Constant Cravings

When on a diet or healthy eating plan I always get little cravings.  For me they are not the sweets that most people crave but the salty, chips, hashbrowns, rich-cheesy Mexican dishes - things like that.  I really can't afford to write about cravings too much because thinking about them only makes the cravings grow and leads to action.  I choose to ignore them and discard those cravings as soon as they come into my mind.  If I am going to eat a high calorie meal I am trying very hard to plan on it and adjust around it.  I don't want to start making small concessions that lead to more and more concessions - better just to keep the door shut - and locked.  I want to pursue other cravings...the healthy kind.

One positive craving that I have been experiencing - the craving for excellence.  There have been times in my life when I pursued excellence in various areas.  WARNING:  SOMETIMES THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE CAUSES ME TO PUT ON MY PERFECTIONIST/CONTROL FREAK GEAR.  That being said, I do believe I can pursue excellence and not go to the absolutes that become - me setting unrealistic goals and berating myself for not meeting them. 

This is where I am going with this...Back before all this new life plan started up I bought a subscription for Runner's World from the neighborhood boy selling magazine subscriptions to make money for his school.  I know right, rather optimistic of me :) but it was a in a moment of excellence, thinking I can do better and I'm going to do better.  Well the magazines started pouring in about the same time that the layoff and subsequent life force shift occurred. When I read their stories, and see so many people my age who are just now starting their healthy life, or resurrecting it after burying it in the child-rearing years - I am so inspired.  I am not alone. 

So, my quest for excellence could come in the form of a string of 5K's where I beat my 15 minute mile. It might materialize into a half marathon or even a full marathon.  I am still thinking this over.  I am also considering the price I will have to pay, and the price my family will have to pay.  There is no excellence that does not require sacrifice. 

But let me think about what I am sacrificing - time spent goofing around on the computer with Farmville and Scrabble?  Time spent stagnant in front of the t.v.?  Time away from family while I am out training?  (Well they are definitely old enough to handle that.)  Healthy meals versus pizza?  I don't think I am losing out here.  I don't think the fam would be losing.  In fact they would see a mom who crossed the finish line with determination and "changed my stars", to quote a corny line from a corny movie some of my family loves.

This is a thought that is just forming.  A craving that has just begun.  I don't know yet where it will take me but it does have me dreaming and scheming and hoping for possibilities that I had once given up on.  So when it comes to cravings...serve me up a big ol' bowl of excellence.  That sounds so good....

Thanks Ya'll!