Spring has sprung, and with it comes the promise of warm weather, flowers blooming, and longer days. For the next few months we will have more daylight hours, and more time in which to be outdoors. I love this time of the year, when there is beauty all around. Although there are also allergens all around, most people have found a way to work with those, so they can enjoy being outside. At least in the southeast we have successfully weathered the cold winter months, and can look forward to increasingly warmer and longer days. If we allowed ourselves to hibernate indoors the past few months, we can spring forth now and enjoy nature’s beauty.

Perhaps like me you made some New Year’s Resolutions, which I prefer to call commitments. How have you been doing with those? Well, I have had a slow start with mine. I have not made much progress with the 20 pounds I want to lose, going down and up a couple of pounds a week. I am trying to be kind to myself, and focusing on the fact that I have started, that I have at least not gained any more, and that losing one or two pounds is better than adding to that. While this is true, and I do need to focus on the positive to keep moving forward, I am still disappointed with myself. Instead of allowing myself to have a pity party, I kicked myself into gear, and recently started getting serious about losing the weight. To do so, however, required that I get serious about something else.

I long ago realized that for me to lose weight, I must couple better and less eating with exercise. I also learned many years ago that as much as I plan to, regardless of how many gyms I join, I will not consistently go to a gym and exercise. Nor will I get on a bicycle or treadmill at home – I do not like to exercise on machines. The only exercise that has worked for me over the years is walking. And not running, just walking. I also know that I am cold-natured, so walking outside when it is cold is not something I easily do. Although there are indoor areas for walking, such as the mall and my church recreation center, I have not used those. So, winter weather has given me a great excuse to not exercise. With spring now here, I have no excuse. And I am on a consistent walking routine now. And that one good habit has led to another – better and less eating.

Have you found that once you start doing something, it is easier to keep doing it? Also, that one good habit or routine seems to make it easier to develop and maintain others? That is what I have found to be the case. Once I got serious about eating better and less, and the weather cooperated, I found it much easier to get outside and walk for exercise. Once I walked the first time, the second time was easier. I found that getting started was the hardest part, and that once I got started, it was harder to quit than to continue. And that being consistent with one good habit made it easier to be consistent with others.

Enough about me. I am honest about my struggles, hoping that in so doing, it will inspire others to deal better with theirs. Sometimes, however, we let ourselves off the hook by focusing on the struggles of others. It can become too easy to look at others and fail to look at ourselves.

What do you need to get started doing? It may not be weight control and exercise for you. It could be stopping something, such as smoking or spending too much money, or getting in control of some other area of your life. Whatever it is, whatever promise you made to yourself at the beginning of the new year, there is still plenty of time in 2017 for you (and me!) to be successful.

If we just get started. And what better time to get started than spring? With the beauty all around us, we can allow the growth of the season to help us grow in whatever areas we need the stimulus.

So, let’s just get started, and keep the positive momentum going. Good luck on your journey to being the best that you can be! 