REACHING YOUR GOALS

WHAT IT TAKES TO REACH OUR GOALS (i.e., how much do I really love breakfast?)

EVERY SINGLE DAY?!

The other day I was talking with Niña about how much I love breakfast, and, before I could finish my thought she interrupted with, “apparently you don’t love it that much,” which caused my head to nearly explode!

You see, I love breakfast more than anyone else could possibly love breakfast. Hell, I love breakfast more than I love most people. For me, breakfast wasn’t part of my life, it was The Part of my life.

From the tender age of….as far back as I can remember, my Mom, Mama Maria, cooked breakfast for me and my twin brother.

“Every day,” you ask?

YES, EVERY SINGLE DAY UNTIL I STARTED MY FIRST DAY OF COLLEGE MY MOM COOKED BREAKFAST FOR ME AND MY TWIN.

But it was more than just breakfast, Mama Maria would start cooking breakfast before Mr. R (my twin) and I would even wake up. So, breakfast was my damn alarm clock! And, let me tell you, breakfast as an alarm clock is a glorious thing!

Just imagine waking up because you smell a delicious freshly-made ham, egg, and cheese croissant being prepared…or the side-plate of hash browns being made…or smelling the aroma of the freshly-made Cuban coffee about to be poured into the café con leche that would accompany every single breakfast.

It was, in a word, GLORIOUS…a glory I relived every single day until the day I started college…maybe that’s part of the reason I really didn’t enjoy college that much…?

And, just so we are clear, THERE WAS NEVER A REPEAT BREAKFAST MENU WITHIN A WEEK’S TIME…So, yeah, I got a brand new breakfast made fresh everyday of the week…

…So when I say I love breakfast, don’t just think I love breakfast, know that I LOVE BREAKFAST!

HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT?

And, now that you have a bit of the back-story, lets continue with the story….

There I was, with my head about to explode because Niña interrupted me mid-sentence to say that “apparently” I didn’t “love” breakfast “that much” because I have chosen to fast, coming up on 4 years now, until 3pm almost every single day.

Well, right as I was about to lose it, I realized right then and there the GLORIOUS point Niña had just made…she was right!

No, she wasn’t right about my lack of love for breakfast, nor was she remotely close to understanding my “love” (or lack there of) for fasting, but she was absolutely right about something else.

NIÑA WAS 100% RIGHT ABOUT WHAT IT TAKES TO REACH A GOAL!

You see, what I was about to say, before Niña so rudely interrupted me, was that, I couldn’t believe that, “with how much I love breakfast, I have somehow stuck to this fasting thing for nearly 4 years now”…and she made my point for me without even knowing it…the point being…

…IT’S ALL ABOUT REACHING YOUR GOAL!

You see, I really do LOVE breakfast with a passion, but, apparently, I love reaching my goals that much more!

It’s not about my love for fasting! Hell, I don’t even love fasting. But I do love setting and reaching my goals…and I apparently I love that more than I do breakfast.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

So, the take away here is that I realized to REACH YOUR GOAL NOTHING CAN STAND IN YOUR WAY!

Not your favorite piece of chocolate, nor your favorite fruit smoothie, nor your favorite can of pop, not even your favorite meal of the day – to reach your goal you need to let go of anything and everything that is between you and your goal…and that’s exactly what I did over 3 years ago – I let go.

As I’ve talked about before on this blog, letting go, is crucial to making progress and reaching our goals…and that’s exactly what I did to my most beloved meal of the day – I let it go.

SET A GOAL, REACH THAT GOAL

Nearly 4 years ago I found myself trying to reach my goals – fixing my metabolic syndrome and metabolic damage, naturally controlling/reducing my hypertension, losing the nearly 80 pounds I had gained over a 3 year period, and getting back full mobility in my injured shoulder and two bum knees. I had spent the last 3 years lying to myself about my health, my fitness, and my physical appearance and it was time to face reality and take control of the situation. I was determined to make my self-imagine a reality once again…determined to get healthy on the inside and have it reflect on the outside.

I was so determined to reach my goal that I made a mental note of letting nothing stand in my way – not even the meal I most loved, the meal that defines my up bringing, the meal that made me who I was and who I am…

…and so, when I heard about intermittent fasting I decided to give it a go, I decided to give it a go because I had already decided to let nothing, not even my own opinion, nor what I had been taught in school, nor what main-stream media, science, and dieting experts had been saying for…ever…stand in my way…and nothing did 🙂

IN A SENTENCE SUMMARY

So, to make a longer story less long – you have to love your goal more than you love breakfast if you ever want to reach your goal!