Stick Dreams

I noticed some interesting new landscaping the other day. There was a large mound of soil, surrounded by nicely done circular brickwork. In the middle of this 4 foot circle was a tiny tree. Really, it looked like a stick. I laughed out loud because, honestly, it looked ridiculous.

I remembered how silly my tiny hostas looked when I followed the directions and planted them 12-18" apart. Now, three years later, they still look a little too spaced out, but I can see they're coming along nicely.

Then, it hit me. When you plant a tree, you have to plan on what it WILL be like. You have to know and expect it to change. Too little room and you will stunt the growth, never knowing its true potential OR it could cause structural damage to things around it. The tree grows because it has the 3 elements it needs. We can even visualize what it will be like when water, soil and sun do their thing, despite the wind storms and bugs.

Planting a tree requires a "knowing" that it will be bigger and better, given the right stuff. Starting down the journey of weight loss, or of fulfulling a dream, requires a "knowing" too.

We can't short change ourselves because we think we look like sticks. We WILL grow, we WILL change and we have to "know" it. We can't poison ourselves with negative thinking, because that will stunt our growth or cause damage to the people around us.

We have to treat our lives like that little stick in the 4 foot circle of soil. We have to get a vision of what we WILL look like. This is especially true with weight loss, but really applies to all dreams. We have to see it and put it in front of our eyes every day. It's easy to lose heart when the focus is on the details. There is always housekeeping, birthday parties, grocery shopping, errands, etc, but putting the big picture front and center in the middle of those things will help catapult us towards our goals.

"The road is long
There are mountains in our way
But we climb a step every day"
- lyrics from Up Where We Belong