Walking my dog each morning, I pass a house with “creepy crepe myrtles,” the kind planted between the sidewalk and the street as a screen. Creepy in the early morning.
In March, they dug up a pipe across the length of their property from the back to the street ripping out two Crepe Myrtles and tossing them aside with no protection for the roots. Two weeks later, they put them back, but I thought, “Good luck with that.”
A few weeks later, I was surprised to see a bit of life.
A month later, they were fully sprouted and growing. How did it manage with so little care, so little help?
It’s in their nature to grow again.
We all come to moments like this in work, life, and absolutely along our health journeys. We’ve tossed aside many a plan when we get fed up with our results and rip out our good habits. We stop caring. We may make a half-hearted effort later, but we don’t expect it to last. We say things like:
I’m too heavy—I can’t stay with it long enough.
There’s no way I’ll ever get to my goal weight.
I’ve tried this so many times before; I can’t do it.
Our past failures and frustrations are overwhelming, and it’s easier to give up than follow the plan. We’ve lost hope.
Yet, just like those crepe myrtles, there’s still life in us somewhere. It’s in our nature to grow, to return to health, to make the most of our lives.
How?!!!!
Get up. Move in the direction of your goal. No matter how many times you’ve “fallen off the wagon,” get up. There is life within us if we will but move, and in the moment you move, you begin to win.
If I can be helpful, don’t hesitate to connect. We all need some help and encouragement along the way.
