This is my third post on my tagline Living, Loving, Losing, Laughing! The focus today is Losing. Losing is fairly simple by  definition: 1. resulting in or likely to result in defeat < losing a battle> 2. marked by many losses <pounds>.

Let’s take the pounds first. Losing weight, as in 150 pounds, was the most important goal between March 2, 2009 and February 27, 2010. I had to lose this weight or suffer the current and future consequences of carrying around 360 pounds plus on a 6 foot frame. I had to learn how to lose and how to take care of myself physically. I continue to work on maintenance today and how I gain and lose weight. I look at how I gain and lose muscle and fat and how that works for ME. I have learned a lot about losing weight and continue to learn how to manage those gains and losses.

I think . Not the pounds, but the losing we experience every day in life. These losses helped to fuel my stress and binge eating. Managing these losses is as important as managing each pound. I knew in June of 2010 that we were going to lose my father-in-law, Garvin. As we dealt with this coming loss, Polly and I were able to rearrange our lives to deal with the loss her dad and help her mom, dad and family with the loss. Managing my highs and lows during this period was hard, but taught me a great deal about life, losing, and winning. Losing Garvin was tough but also taught ME a lot about ME and life.

Also, sometimes we have to choose a timely loss to reach our ultimate goals. Other times we take a loss, learn from it and move on to develop a winning strategy. Defining what winning looks like to ME is very important. I know I cannot WIN every situation or every battle in life. But I do know I can say the Serenity Prayer and change the things I can in life. I can WIN the WINS that are important to ME.

So, learning how to deal with losing is very important to ME. I also know that the worst type of losing  or failure is failing to try. I pray I always have the courage to change the things I can and WIN the fights I need to WIN.

Note to ME and YOU: God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

TheFatGuy