Giving Thanks

- by Jaime Willis

"If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get." Frank A. Clark, former Democratic Congressman for the State of Pennsylvania

This week is all about gratitude.

When you are nose-to-the-grindstone, working, working, working on getting your goals accomplished, it is sometimes difficult to gain perspective on how far you have come especially if you aren't near the finish line. It's hard to be grateful for what you have right now, when your eye is on what you want to have.

At the beginning of the year, I set a health goal for myself. I wanted to lose 60 pounds. I decided to employ a personal trainer to assist me, and I thought I would go boot camp style --working out seven days a week and dieting in order to get the weight off as quickly as possible -- I was aiming for 3 months (20 pounds a month) to reach my goal.

As I am sure you may have already guessed, that didn't happen. It's now the end of November and I still haven't reached my goal. I could tell you all about my setbacks -- when I stopped eating right, when I stopped obsessively going to the gym, when my attitude about this goal was grim. But I won't.

I will tell you that 11 months later, I am down 45 pounds! I am not at the finish line yet, but I am much, much closer than I was when I first made this goal last January. Imagine if I hadn't set this goal for myself? Not only would I not be this close to achieving it, but I could have spent the last 11 months going in the opposite direction and gained more weight.

So this week, I am thankful that my hard work and dedication to my goals are paying dividends. I am grateful that it has taken me this long to lose the weight because slow weight loss is more likely to be long-term weight loss. I am thankful that I can continue to work hard and know that I will reach my goal soon.

A friend of mine recently watched a marathon in which a runner collapsed literally 100 meters from the finish line and was carted away by paramedics. (You can watch the footage here). The runner in question saw my friend's video and contacted him. Although he was initially embarrassed to see his moment of weakness immortalized, the runner realized that he had done the best he could that day, and running 26.1 miles is still a huge accomplishment.

What can you be thankful for right now without waiting to reach your goal? Let us know in the comments.