I’ve had a couple of big weekends lately. First, there was my costume pirate foray; FYI, my husband thinks for some insane reason that I will now develop a penchant for dressing up. He’d be wrong. BEYOND wrong, but that wasn’t the point of the post, anyway. Sorry, hubby! 😉

Last weekend, I dressed up again — this time in black concert dress. I am part of a volunteer orchestra, and we had our annual holiday concert last Sunday afternoon. Friends, I am not friendly with shapewear, but I tolerated it for a few hours. I’m not sure which I enjoyed, more: the concert itself, or getting home and being able to… ahem… become unrestricted in delightful ways.

No, really — I enjoyed the concert, more. As much as I looked forward to the performance, though, I was also mightily surprised. I was being recognized for working behind the scenes with the orchestra.

Dang straight!

Honestly, I prefer behind the scenes work. I don’t do it for recognition, although it’s nice to be appreciated. The words said on my behalf included a lot of things about me; that I play horn, that I contribute technical skills, that I am working on a book. All of these things are true. The one thing not mentioned — thank goodness — was my weight loss.

Although it’s one of the major accomplishments of my life, I am glad that it’s also not something I’m widely known for. When I lost 140 pounds a decade ago, that seemed to be what people knew me by best; I was that woman who lost all that weight. And unfortunately for me, I wasn’t really known by much else. Oh, sure, people knew me by my career choice, but other than that? I didn’t have much of an identity, outside of my work and my weight loss. That was the case on a personal level, too — while I wrote on occasion, I didn’t take it all that seriously. I was wife, mother, business owner, weight loss woman.

These expansions of my own personal goals are both a byproduct of having approached weight loss with a full body and mind discipline, and also a reason for my success. When all I had to call my own was my progress with weight loss, it was very easy to become obsessed with it, and frankly, depressed when I didn’t see results. My world was very closed off.

Now, my life is about so much more. I am constantly busy with things that bring me joy and improve my own quality of life. While it probably seems a bit ironic to be writing a weight loss blog about not wanting to be known for weight loss, that’s exactly what this is about. Sure, I’ve struggled with weight loss over recent months (and, by the way, I’m finally seeing some progress, so stay tuned!), but it’s not the emotional tsunami it was, before, because I have so many other things in my life for which I am truly grateful. Those things fulfill me, regardless of the number on the scale.

My definitions have changed, and my relationship with my body and mind along with them. Success and failure are matters of perspective and lessons learned, rather than devastating events. When you feel good about yourself, it’s much easier to put the occasional snafus in perspective.

A decade ago, I gave myself the gift of weight loss. This journey, I’ve given myself the gift of relearning how to live a full and happy life, which is infinitely more valuable.