We Are David Cassidy-Years-Old & it’s Time to Start Bringing Our Dreams to Life

Hello Thrivers!

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Pearl One

From a former year’s post, but updated for today!

I thought we’d start today with wisdom from my teen-crush and yours: Mr! David! Cassidy! I plastered my bedroom walls in Tiger Beat David-pictures. He was “hot” before hot was cool.

We all got older and received TMI about Mr. Cassidy IRL. Turns out, we weren’t head over heels for David Cassidy, it was Keith Partridge we wanted the whole time. (Let’s just say that Cassidy did not grow up to be Ron Howard.)

But here’s the gift David left us. According to his daughter his last words were, “So much wasted time.”

It’s easy for me to write, let’s quit frittering our time away. But how do we stop frittering? It’s like surgeons telling us to lose weight. (Okay, but how?!)

Here’s my take: Life is hard. Sometimes annoyingly hard, other times tragically hard. And let’s be honest with ourselves that a default life is significantly easier than pursuing a dream.

It’s so much easier to crash on the couch watching Hulu, ice cream by our side, right? We’re being robbed of an awesome life by overdoing nap-life (nothing against naps, of course they’re fine when you need one).

But if we want to shoot for the stars and enjoy the incredible parts of reaping the rewards of hard work, we need to understand that a dream fulfilled comes via frustration, annoyance and feelings of “you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Nobody has found an awesome life at the bottom of a bowl of ice cream.

Our most exciting plans usually take years to come to fruition; our biggest dreams require us to learn how to manage disappointment, irritation, and boredom.

Somebody – not me – said, “Winning is hard. Failing is hard. Choose your hardship.”

So, how do we stop frittering our time? First by acknowledging what we’re up against: losing weight at any age in our food-culture is insanely challenging.

But losing after age 50? Most will say impossible; that women over 50 just have to get comfortable with 10, 20, or 50 extra pounds. They shrug, that’s just life.

No, it’s not.

The ironic thing is that once we get the “massively difficult” part, the weight loss after 50 trek gets more workable. (Remember, when we call it a “part-time job”, we elevate how we spend our time).

So much wasted time?

Not on our watch. ♥

Pearl Two

Since we’re in the middle of summer travel, I want to share a healthy peanut butter packet that’ll breeze right through airport security and board the plane with you, no questions asked.

Called Justin’s Classic Peanut Butter Spread (they also make honey peanut butter spread), these babies come in single 1.5 ounce packets that again are small enough to keep airport security from pestering you. The packets are a little pricey, but the honey peanut butter spread is relatively inexpensive.

Here’s the deal, don’t cheap out on yourself. If you’re like me you spend on family, the fur-people, the house and so forth, but rarely spend on yourself. Even if you’re not a peanut butter person, purchase foods that you most love as you pursue your forever-loss. Yes, the fancy high-end dark chocolate is pricey, but losing and preserving after age fifty is seriously rough trekking. Keep your favorites in stock.

And – when you’re at home – the packets are just the ticket for packing in your cold-tote when you’re out and about.

As you know, one of my top tips for successful weight loss and forever-preservation is: always carry a cold-tote with you full of healthy bites so that you won’t – ever – be tempted by fast-food or the frighteningly unsafe grocery store aisles. ♥

Pearl Three

Sequences!

Old Sequence

• Situation (something concrete): “I’ve heard that now’s a good time to give up daily weigh ins on the scale.” (Unless you’re in preservation-mode.)
• Thought: “No way would that work for me.”
• Feeling: Mad.
• Action: I keep weighing myself twice a day (morning and evening) to see if I’ve “been good.”
• Result: Same as every weight result; I lose twenty pounds, but don’t keep the weight off.

Bridge Sequence

• Situation (something concrete): “I’ve heard that now’s a good time to give up daily weigh ins on the scale.” (Unless in preservation.)
• Thought: “Let me give this stupid idea time to think about. It appears to have worked for Wendy, but I don’t know. I think I could try it for a week or a month?”
• Feeling: Annoyed and reluctant.
• Action: First, I put my scale up high and out of reach, then I give eating well a “no-scale” go for a week.
• Result: Well at the end of the week, I gained a pound. I’m starting to understand that creating the right habits really – in theory – should keep the scale low.

New Sequence

• Situation (something concrete): “I’ve heard that now’s a good time to give up daily weigh in on the scale.” (Unless in preservation-mode.)
• Thought: The idea of “no scale, only habits” is starting to make sense.
• Feeling: Still leery, but hopeful.
• Action: I went a month not gaining, but not losing.
• Result: I allow myself leeway. I use the scale often, but put it away just as often. And I stopped weighing myself at night. (Progress!)

Takeaway: Living without a scale is like studying really hard for a test. You have no feedback for the longest time, so you stay focused on studying well. Finally, the test-day arrives and you don’t always get an A+, but you’ll take a B-without a problem. And this is how new thought patters are created. There’s nothing “easy” about any of this. If it’s hard, you’re right on schedule. ♥

Pearl Four

A Table for Two by the author who wrote A Gentleman In Moscow, both by Amor Towles. I’m just getting into A Table for Two but it has two of my most loved things: a favorite author and a wonderful beginning to the book. But if you haven’t yet read A Gentleman in Moscow start there. Book-dessert works, give it try. Eat something small around 6 p.m.ish and at 8 p.m. go to your room brush, floss, maybe a shower or bath and then dive into a phenomenal book. It can’t be the least bit dry. The book-dessert isn’t at full-throttle until the book is super juicy. ♥

Pearl Five

Life is hard enough. So don’t surround yourself with people who thrive on drama and make it even harder.” ♥

Charles F. Glassman

Make it the kind of weekend where you live for Monday-morning-you waking up thrilled!

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♥, Wendy

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I am not an expert, a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or a nutritionist: the information within TheInspiredEater.com is based solely on my personal experience and is not intended to be used as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. ♥