Last night, I went to visit a dear friend in the hospital who had the gastric bypass surgery yesterday. Although he started the process before I did - some insurance issues kept him from having the surgery until yesterday. He came through surgery very well, and it has been really neat to be in a position to answer questions for him - both for pre-op and for things he can expect now. And we are committed to helping each other through this.
How satisfying it is to be able be there for him like my friend who had the surgery a few years back has been there for me. And for me and my husband to be able to say to his wife that we are there - anytime they need us. (I figure she may have questions and issues about the other side of this surgery - not as the patient, but as the person who lives with the patient.)
I want more than anything to be able to make a difference in someone's life. To take them from the self-loathing that I experienced when I was so big to learning to accept yourself - good and bad. To help someone go from eating as stress relief, or a byproduct of depression, or any one of the wrong reasons we eat, to eating as it was meant to be...a response to hunger and a way to get vital nutrition. To talk about changing not just your body, but your mind.
Another friend was asking me why I thought I had been successful so far. I really think it was my attitude starting out. I determined long before surgery that I was NOT going to look at this as having to give up certain things. I was looking ahead to all the things I would gain - except, of course, weight. If a person looks at all the things they have to give up - pop, bread (for me), popcorn, etc., etc., etc. - it would be very easy to get depressed, and fall back into one of the habits that got me into this mess in the first place: eating to feel better, even though I never did.
But, if I look at all of the cool things that are happening to me, and focus on those...buying clothes off the rack, coming off so many medicines, sitting in a chair with arms and not bruising the hips I've had to squeeze in, etc., etc., etc. - I'm encouraged, and I want to stay on track!
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Phillippians 4:8-9
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