How Do You Eat an Elephant?

Do you know how to eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

I love that concept. And I had a nice chat with my HR friend today that reminded me of it. It seems she's really thinking a lot about eating better, exercising more and feeling better.

But she's not sure why she doesn't "just start."

I can't tell you how many times I had that thought in my head through the years. Just thinking about "just starting" would get so overwhelming as I tried to plan out every detail ... What will I eat two weeks from Thursday when I have to go to New Orleans? How will I exercise on days I get home late? When will I find time to buy new shoes? What will I do when I fail? ... that I couldn't "just start."

In other words, I was so afraid to jump off the high dive into the deep end and drown, that I forgot I could just dip a toe in the wading pool and then step forward, little by little.

Honest to goodness, if you would have told me last February that in the coming month I would stop eating crap cold turkey, start exercising for an hour a day and drop 85 pounds, I'd have told you 1) you're smoking hash and 2) that such a challenge was just too big to take on and 3) that it was plain impossible.

As such, my intentions in the beginning were MUCH smaller.

I thought about little goals. Like getting through one day without eating crap. And after I got through one day, I tried another. And then another. And pretty soon I had a streak going; a streak I didn't want to break.

I built up a little confidence that I COULD succeed. I started to feel better inside and outside. Which fueled me to move forward.

Then, I started walking. I thought I'd try it. See how it would go. I didn't push myself to walk too far or too fast or too often. I'm not sure I remember, but I think my original goal was doing something for 30 minutes three days a week.

And before long, 30 minutes turned into 35 and then 40 and then 45. A really slow pace was increased little by little. Three days turned into four and then five.

And before long, the pounds started dropping. I knew that if I did the right things often enough, or at least more often than I did the wrong things, good things would happen.

Dip a toe. Try it for a couple of days. Or try it for a couple of days a week. Focus on what you CAN do. Don't let the whole of it overwhelm you.

And, pass the elephant sauce.