Running With Perseverance

One of the most powerful concepts that I encountered on my weight-loss/maintenance/fitness journey was the “moment of truth.” My friend (and certified personal trainer) Raphael may not have come up with it himself, but he’s the person that I always credit when I think of it.

If you’ve ever decided to go on a diet, exercise, cut back on caffeine, quit smoking, or make any other change in your routine, you’ve been faced with a moment of truth.

It’s pretty easy to commit to starting a diet “on Monday,” especially on Sunday night when you’re stuffed from a weekend of indulgences and feeling like you will never be hungry again. When Monday morning comes, it will feel good to start your day with a protein shake, whole wheat toast and berries, or egg white omelette. Lean Cuisine has some pretty tasty entrees, so you won’t feel deprived when you enjoy Butternut Squash Ravioli or Lemon Chicken for lunch. But what will happen when you encounter a platter of cupcakes in the office kitchen? When you are sitting in a meeting with a basket of potato chips on the table? When you go to Starbucks for a coffee and see your favorite pastry in the display case? When your friends want to go out for margaritas?  When you are trying to eat more carefully, you will face these moments of truth throughout the day.

You decide to get up for a morning workout, but what will you do when your alarm goes off an hour earlier?

You are going to hit the gym after work, but what will you do when you get invited to happy hour?

You plan to do a workout program at home after dinner, but then your child wants help with homework or your friend calls with the latest gossip, will you ask them to wait?

At least with exercise, I usually only face a moment of truth once a day, but I have to make the right decision so I don’t miss out on my window of opportunity.

A moment of truth is when your committment is put to the test. It’s a decision point when you have to choose between one course of action that may seem easier and more attractive at the time and another course of action that may take more resolve but is true to your intentions. Will you take the downhill route and risk a slippery slope into a downward spiral, or will you dig deep to climb the peak and reach your goal?

I faced a different sort of moment of truth this week. As you can see (hopefully you noticed!) I have a beautiful new blog header. When I was working with Rita at Blog Genie on the design, I mentioned the “faith” aspect of my blog, but made clear that I wanted to emphasize running in the header. When I was contemplating the near-final draft, I realized that there was no design element that reflected my faith, and I wasn’t sure what to do about it. 

My blog is mostly a “healthy living” blog, so I didn’t want it to look like a “Christian” blog. More importantly, I don’t want to scare away readers who are not Christian, including my Jewish, Sikh, atheist and agnostic friends–I hope everyone can enjoy my musings. On the other hand, I do write about my beliefs, and my faith is an essential part of who I am.

I thought about adding a cross or two around the “Running With Perseverance” script.

I wondered if making the “t” in “with” into a cross would even be noticeable.

I laughed at the idea of having a cross carved into that first tree on the left.

It finally came to me while I was sitting in church (!). We were fine-tuning the “running girl” last weekend, and she looked like this:

After some back-and-forth to find the right look, we gave her a simple cross necklace:

It is subtle but clearly visible, and resembles something I might wear.

I still had to give it some thought, but finally decided that it was the right image for my blog. After all, my tagline is “balancing life with fitness and faith” and at the end of the day I know it is my faith that gets me through the hardest times–although endorphins do help!

Have you faced a moment of truth lately?

Do you have a custom header on your blog?