The Dash

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. "

Lao Tzu

 June 13th,2013.

That was the day I chose to do something about the life I was living.

At that time, the elephant in the room (no pun intended) was my weight.

At 380 plus pounds, I had to do something.

It wasn't going to be easy.

I wasn't going to be able to shed 200 pounds over night.

I did however have to take a first step.

That first step was to find a dietary plan and commit to sticking to it for 100 days.

I had no other goal than to get through 100 days.

To help myself in that endeavor, I knew I would need support.

My plan was to email a new friend daily asking them to accompany me on this 100 day journey. At the end of day 100, I would hopefully have lost some weight as well as building up a 100 supporters along the way.

That was 8 years and 3 days ago.

During that time, there were a lot of these daily emails.

And a lot of friends who read them!

It turned out that I loved to write. I looked forward to that quiet time every day when I could just put some of my thoughts out there.

Writing was special for me.

During the shutdown and quarantine, that all changed for me.

Like many others, I didn't react well to what was happening around me. Angry doesn't begin to describe what I was feeling.

So I stopped writing.

I began to feel very empty.

Day by day, that emptiness grew.

Was this going to be what my life was about?

The same "nothing" every day until ,well until the end?

Very depressing!

That's when I remembered The Dash.

I've written about The Dash in the past.

When you look at a gravestone it tells you the person's name, the date they were born and the date that they died.

In between those dates you always find The Dash.

The Dash is everything that happens between those two dates.

The Dash is the story of a person's life.

Once again, I find myself at another crossroad of life.

It's at these crossroads were we get to make a choice.

Just standing at this intersection will get you no where.

The past is in my rearview mirror.

Been there, done that, no going back.

Right turn, left turn or straight ahead?

It doesn't matter.

Just pick a direction and head on down the road.

Did you ever notice in the middle of the road you find dashes?

Pick a direction and follow The Dash!

Day 1 of the next 100 days!