Week Ten - Happiness Depends Upon Ourselves

Well we're nearly at Mayday and this will be my last Motivational blog post for the challenge. I want to say thanks to each and every one of you who has taken part, I've really enjoyed getting to know you all and will miss these weekend sessions at the laptop thinking positive thoughts!

This week I've been thinking about exactly what I want to achieve by losing weight. Obviously there are the usual reasons - looking after my health, feeling comfortable in myself and looking good but underpinning all of these has to be the desire for happiness. When I get a compliment, fit into my old jeans, feel confident going out for the evening or even try something new I've been putting off because of my weight I feel happy. When I think about getting to goal I smile and every time one of those 7lb stars pops up on my weight tracker I feel a little thrill. . .

So how will I achieve that happiness? In life we can only really reach our goals when we are ready to change and though we may benefit from support from our friends and family or look to others for advice and motivation, ultimately Aristotle had it right - "happiness depends upon ourselves". . .

I am the one person who has the power to make me happy and by extension that means I am the only one who can stop myself too. I have always let other people affect how I think and feel but if I want to be successful I need to take that power back and be in charge of my own life.

This week I took a big step and went to my first scuba lesson - I wore a nice pair of swimming trunks with a tankini top from Fat Face I bought specifically for the purpose, I left the changing room without looking in the mirror and I walked into the pool not caring what anyone thought of how I looked and you know what - I had an amazing time.

It was a fantastic evening, I enjoyed every second of it (barring the three or four when I first went under and had to convince my brain I could breathe in and out under water!) and when I got home I was more relaxed than I've been in years. I know I couldn't have done that just a few months ago and even a few weeks ago I would have been worrying about what everyone else thought not enjoying the experience.

So my final piece of advice for us all is to take control of our own happiness, don't let other people's negative thoughts (real or imagined) stop us from doing anything and let ourselves enjoy life. Good luck to all of you with your continued journey to goal, I'll see you on the 5+ board!