Friday, August 30, 2013

Me and my Shadow


When Wesley was younger,  I called her my little shadow, because she followed me and went with me everywhere. We were almost always together. When I started Weight Watchers in July, she started walking with me every evening. Our shadows were funny. Her little tiny stick figure and my more rounded not stick figure, walking together. Since she went back to school I have started walking alone, early in the morning, around 7:30, since I don't have to wait for her to get up and the mornings are much cooler. This morning I noticed my shadow. I guess the sun is changing locations and my shadow was always either in front of me, to the right or to the left. I noticed it was more stick like today, close to the size of Wesley's shadow. It was funny to have my shadow there. It felt oddly like there was someone walking with me. There is a crow up the road from us that sits in the tree each morning and cheers me on, and there is the little family of deer that are always in someone's yard grazing. They stop and watch me as I walk by and sometimes start walking along with me. I have started increasing the time I walk. I started at 30 minutes, then went to 40 minutes and now I am walking for almost an hour. I have come to look forward to this walk, this time of quiet contemplation and time spent outside, listening to the birds, looking at the clouds, watching the animals, amazed at nature in general. It's a nice replacement for mind numbing computer time. I don't facebook, tweet, pin, tumble, google or surf. I check the blogs I like, check my email, then I am out the door to check on Mother Nature.......... my mind has never felt more still.

Weigh in today and I have lost 9 pounds. I have been asked by the WW leader to give a presentation at the meeting in two weeks on the topic "Believe and Succeed". I totally believe in this program, at least for me. It's exactly the kind of head game that makes me succeed. Positive results and positive reinforcement, without competition or judgement or comparison to others. Just me and my head and the best reward, seeing the scale drop each week. Not to mention how much better I feel. Hopefully next week I will celebrate a 10 pound loss! and then I am halfway to my goal.

Today we will go and celebrate the life of our friend John Page, and say our goodbyes. I hope for a joyful celebration of his life instead of a sad grieving for the loss. That's how he would have wanted it..

7 comments:

littlemancat said...

I love my morning walk too. It just feels right when you're out there in the young day. I find I like walking alone the best as ideas for poems,prose come into my head - also the mulling over of any dreams from the night before. A favorite thing - the day moon up there in the blue morning sky.
Good for you with the weight loss!
Cheers,
Mary

Michèle Hastings said...

There are pos and cons to walking with a buddy and walking alone. My best walking/running partner had been my dog Misty. She LOVED to go, no matter what time of day, and she didn't talk too much.
and I totally agree with you about WW, sensible eating, no magic potions involved!

Trish said...

Good going, Tracey!..:)

Amy said...

I've noticed the same thing about my shadow too. Am in great company! Lately, creation has been cheering me on- the trees, etc... I love this.

Patricia Griffin Ceramics said...

Wow, 9 pounds! That's awesome. I love to walk too. And my dogs pretty much demand it. :) We're so lucky to live in places of such natural beauty.

cookingwithgas said...

those morning walks really do clear out the brain. I love where it takes me some days.
Thinking about you today and hope you will see some folks that you enjoy.
Hugs. M

Sandy Miller said...

beautiful post......... I solve the worlds problems on my morning walk abouts......