Start living or start dying…

This morning I was all set to write about my early morning runs but decided I’m shelving that subject for another day in light of something with more heart.

Today I stepped out of my comfort zone, just a little bit, nothing really to speak of but just enough. My friends and I have a ritual, after our workouts we always hit the sauna when we’re done. It’s something we look forward to, for me some days I swear I’m working my butt off just for the relief of getting to the sauna.  We have met a lot of great people that way…I say we but what I really mean is my friends have met a lot of people that way, I have met them by proxy. They are the friendly outgoing ones, I can be pretty introverted when it comes to strangers. Today I was flying solo heading into our happy place and as I was grabbing my headphones, preparing to keep to myself, I decided not to close myself off and just be open. You know, just to see…I’m so glad did.

Two strangers greeted me as soon as I walked in, both friendly and made me feel as ease immediately. Small talk ensued and I was patting myself on the back for taking the tiniest step out of my comfort bubble, mission accomplished! Then even better, a familiar face walks in and while we are catching up on our gym lives one of the strangers said his goodbyes and before you know it stranger number two has joined our conversation.

He began by telling us he is coming down from 402 lbs. Well now, that got our attention. He explains he had always been in great shape (a Drill Sargent even), ran five miles every day, until he was hit by a car. He said he looked down and couldn’t tell which direction his feet were pointing and he knew it was bad. Yikes! Obviously he had a long road to recovery, couldn’t do any of the things he used to do. His weight crept up and his metabolism slowed down with age, lack of movement and motivation. “Now I’m  57, 402 lbs” he told us “I had to decide whether I was going to start living or start dying…I chose to start living, I’m down 50 lbs so far!”. My heart leaped for him 💗 so much rawness in his revelation “start living or start dying”, what a journey he has ahead of him.

Now everyone who knows me knows, I’m not great in the moment with words. My brain tends to kick into gear with brilliant words of advice or witty comebacks about 5 mins too late (possibly 5 hours). But as I turned to leave I saw my bracelet. My brand new, worn only once (today as a matter of fact), Momentum Jewelry “Find Joy in the Journey” bracelet. It was the perfect thing. I turned back and gave it to him. He put it on immediately, thanking me and promising to wear it. FINALLY, I think to myself, I’m not leaving a room awkwardly and then kicking myself for not saying more. Although, I did forget to ask his name…and pic of him for my blog 😣…ah well baby steps 😏.

Mr. Start Living, I wish you the very best. I truly hope you can find the joy in your journey and the strenth to stay positive and keep moving forward…Which brings me to you, have you found the Joy in your Journey yet ? Do you think you can?