I’m sitting here, in the dark, writing a blog. The power’s out; we had a severe thunderstorm hit — combined with a tornado warning — and we’ll probably be without power for a time, yet. It’s one of those unexpected things that you either plan for, out here in a small rural town full of trees and power lines, or you find yourself stumbling over the dog’s toys in the pitch black of the living room.
We’re used to the power going out, though. Candles were lit, backup lights were charged up. My handy flashlight app was ready and waiting. And, because I’m a bit of a stickler when it comes to my internet, the house wifi router was on the UPS battery backup.
It’s not quite the same thing as having the power on, but it’s enough to keep us going until the power trucks remove the last branch or fallen tree from the power lines and get us back up and running. I have a power pack to charge our devices, and we’ll both get up on time in the morning if the power’s not on. I can hear the trucks working on the power lines in the distance, but regardless, we’re prepared.
We have various tools, methods, and knowledge at our disposal to get us through a threatening situation.
I’m glad to say that I also have various tools, methods, and knowledge at my disposal, and that it’s been enough to get me through my recent round of threats to my personal goals for health. Being prepared made all the difference; and while I’m not down to my low weight, yet — using the knowledge that I have, as well as reminding myself to think with objectivity instead of emotion, allowed me to find ways to get my body and my brain solidly back on plan.
Even though most of my weight gain has been water weight, in part because of hormonal shifts, letting even a crack of doubt in resulted in nearly making me give up. That is, of course, ridiculous… but now that the water weight is back under control and I am nearly back at my low weight, I feel better. Not just physically, but emotionally, too.
The thing is — when I’m weighed down by emotion, rational thought tends to get shoved into a small dark corner. Letting that part of me run my thoughts can be disastrous; if reason doesn’t win out, then I slip off plan, eat garbage, feel even worse both physically and emotionally, and that irrational part of my brain jabs me, saying “there! I told you it wasn’t worth the effort!”
The author of The Oatmeal calls this phenomenon the Blerch. The Blerch is that emotional inner voice that yearns for instant gratification regardless of cost, and it can’t be let loose to run free.
Fighting those voices that push me to fail — whether it’s a Blerch-like “hey, pizza!”, my “Inner Walt” (that condescending voice of my father), or random outside forces — requires preparedness. Because you just never know, for sure, when a storm’s going to hit and you’re going to lose power; you have to know that it’s a possibility, and know where to find the tools that will get you through until the lights come back on.
Find your tools. Find what works for you, and you increase your chances of getting just a bit further down the road on your own journey.
PS: I wrote this roughly an hour after the power went out — last night. I had no way of knowing that the very words I wrote would be quite so prophetic; 19.5 hours after the power went out, it finally came back on. While that’s no record around here, it’s definitely much longer than an hour or two, the standard for losing power around here. (All our power lines are on power poles, and my little town is in the heart of pine forests.
Our home is pretty average for this town; we have several huge pine trees in the back yard, as well as other trees. Our yard was littered with branches this morning, and by the light of day, I could see a major break on a maple tree over our outside seating. A few houses over, someone has a pine tree bisecting their house, so I count myself quite lucky.
Sometimes, you pick a topic that’s more germane than you ever imagined.
The important thing is that we are safe, and the rough part’s behind us.