January 29: Initial Assessment

As the butterflies in my stomach and I drove to the initial Lighten Up assessment this afternoon, my greatest fears were (1) being photographed for the newspaper and (2) meeting my fellow contestants.  Driving home several hours later, the butterflies had moved on, and I had a difficult time coming up with any lingering fears. 

I had been assessed by a variety of instruments (scale, measuring tape, blood pressure cuff, and a hand-held thingy that measures body fat).  I had probably been assessed by the other fifteen contestants (unless they were even more nervous than I) and by staff.  I will undoubtedly be assessed by the readers of The News Herald and my blog.  That's a lot of assessing.

What's my assessment of the situation?  I'm excited.  I chose to apply to be a contestant not for prizes or recognition (especially not to have my picture in the paper!).  I applied because I see this contest as a tool to help me in my long journey.  I've worked incredibly hard both mentally and physically to lose more than forty pounds so far; I need to lose at least eighty more pounds.  In order to achieve this goal, I need to make use of every tool available to me, including the support of friends and the fear of publicly failing.

Since there are sixteen contestants from a pool of hundreds of applicants, I want to establish that I am grateful to have been chosen and that I will not waste this opportunity.  I hope that in sharing my journey I might connect with some and help them in their journeys. 

And while we're on the topic of sharing: I enjoy writing, so barring unforeseen impediments, there'll be quite a few entries to my blog.  In return I ask only this: be kind.

Next on the agenda: preparing a healthy dinner.  Dare I dream that all three of my kids plus my husband will enjoy it?  Anything's possible.