I woke up quite early this morning, like 6am. Idea was to go back to sleep, as it was way too early to get up on a hot and already sunny Saturday morning, but things not always go as planned. And here I am typing the next chapter in my story and waiting for my sister Mima to arrive.
You already know that I really believe that things in life happen with a reason and at the time when we are ready for it. Of course you cannot apply this to everything that happens in life, but let’s say it is mostly applicable.
This was all building up for a while now. 3 years ago I gave up on soda drinks completely. In the last 2 years I started taking better care of my eating habits – eating 3 meals a day, instead of one late afternoon huge meal. I even stopped eating cakes for a while, limiting cakes and sweets to one day a week – a, so called, cheat day. Oh, and was it my favorite day… It all really took time, you don’t just switch off or on like that…well, you actually do, but off/on button is usually broken so you have to press it many times before it stays switched off or turned on. I did most of it without really thinking too much about it. In some instances other people were thinking and nagging until they found the switch that worked on me. Like bacon switch – I used to add bacon in my mash potatoes, in my pasta and to anything that I found convenient… I loved that crunchy, meaty, whatever it makes bacon so special, taste. My friend Maria, who had her mind set on healthy eating at the time, was the one preaching every day – and trust me not just to me – that we need veggies in our plates, protein…ah, when I just remember those days. But you know what, she has a super power and her nagging worked, as after a while some of us admitted that when we go to the line to get our lunch in the restaurant a thought would come out of nowhere “hm, I need to add some salad to this plate”. It was super funny, watching people who have never eaten salad before having guilt trips because there was no salad on their plates :-). That is how I stopped adding bacon to my plate – Maria was preaching for days, I wasn’t even listening at the end. Or so I thought, until one day I was taking pasta at the Italian food station and I told the guy “I think that I won’t take bacon today”. The moment it came out of my mouth, I started laughing. She made me stop eating bacon, I couldn’t believe it. We laughed about it for days, adding me to the list of people she influenced…and the list was long (Julia, Sarah, Ronald, Willem…they all fell for it sooner or later) and they were all eating salads with their meals.
But the real deal came with some major changes in my future life – we were closing shops on the cruise line I have worked for 12 years, and that meant that on my next contract I will need to go on a different cruise line, and that meant new rules…one of them being a BMI requirement in a medical certificate. Panic Attack – my BMI is much higher than the requirement…how about that now. I have to do something about it, right?!! If you think this was a break point…well it wasn’t, not really. Although it did contribute to the whole thing. What can I do? Losing weight is not easy and I don’t want to be on a diet that won’t work. Ah well, I will think about it later…not now. Months have gone before I stepped on a path I am now…and this is why I say that things happen when you are ready. When you are ready then things just happen…well it seems so, but if you really look back you will see that there is a full brick road behind you – the one that you made one brick at the time not even knowing where it will lead you at the end.
Well I am not at the end, this is just the beginning…and it will be a lifetime journey. Am I ready? I don’t know, I certainly hope so…
ButILoveToEat 