My Big Fat Elephant

I have an elephant problem.
My elephant is out of control. It throws its weight around to always get what it wants. It is stubborn and lazy, sitting on its giant wrinkly elephant derriere all day long. It’s got a horrible sweet tooth and has eaten chocolate chip cookies for breakfast for the past three days. And it is grumpy … definitely not a morning elephant.
See, my elephant is my emotional side, and the darn critter is holding me back from making a much-needed change -- the get healthy change. I was doing so well before the holidays, but it really got to me -- the vacations and family get-togethers and the flat laziness I feel I'm entitled to in such times of joy.
In the view of Dan and Chip Heath, authors of Switch (read it, it’s worth your time!), the elephant is just one of three factors involved in making a change. The others are the rider and the path. Think horse racing on steroids.
The rider is your rational side, and mine is a fiesty little jockey toting around a briefcase full of facts. He displays posters of inspirational quotes and a Photoshopped likeness of myself 30 pounds thinner next to the shower so I have to see it every day. He creates Excel spreadsheets showing an just how long it will take to lose the weight at various per-week weight loss rates. He follows all sorts of health resources on Twitter to show the elephant why it needs to change. Everything makes such perfect sense to my rider with his well-thought-out arsenal of information.
But all the good intentions in the world are not enough to steer the elephant down the path, or for that matter, kick it its lazy butt into action to leave the starting line.
My elephant needs an extreme elephant makeover. So, as the Heaths suggest, I'm starting by looking for the bright spots. Like this afternoon, I took a dollar out of my wallet, ready to head to the vending machine. Then I asked myself, "Are you really hungry or just bored?" and answered (honestly) bored. Yes, that is one small step in the right direction. There have been more wrong steps this week than I'd like to admit, but the fact that I championed in one small way is pretty awesome.