Thursday, April 28, 2011

My Stool

Ewwww, not THAT kind! The 3-legged kind of stool. I was chatting with a friend that has the band that unfortunately hasn't had the best results. For some time, I've been dreading wondering if he would ask me the million dollar question. Essentially, why have our journeys been so different.

While I have some suspicions of things that are going on with him that might be effecting his success, I didn't want to potentially be viewed as picking on him or throwing stones. Thankfully I had been thinking about this some just in case. I needed a way to frame up my journey that would possibly give him a tool to use to reflect on his journey.

Here enters THE STOOL:
Hey, I never said I was an artist! A 3-legged stool has to have balance. If the legs aren't balanced the stool teeters all over the place or may even fall over. This analogy works for my journey as well. For my band to work, I have to have equal balance of diet and exercise. The balance of the 3 allows my weight (the stool) to stay stable.

His response was that I made it sound "easy". I told him thanks and he looked at me strangely. Then I laughed and said, the thanks was for being able to explain it in such a way that it was easy to understand! Doing it is a different story, it took me a lot of practice and perseverance with some stumbles along the way as an added bonus!

It may not seem like it on here, but there are plenty of days that I want to eat crap and/or not exercise, but I usually just get over myself and do it. I tend to be more successful with exercise over my desire to eat crap, but still maintain decent balance on my stool overall. I reminded him that it's not "one" lapse, but multiple lapses that add up and lead to imbalance.

Ah, this brings to mind GUILT, but I'll leave that for another day and leave you to think about your stool.

Ewwww and you're welcome. : )

9 comments:

Cat said...

Very good analogy. Thanks for sharing. Yes, while it was easy for you to explain it, it does require a lot more effort to actually do it. Thank you!

Laura Belle said...

Though I didn't get a lap-band, I struggle with the same balance of diet and exercise. It's taken me an unusually and ridiculously long time to figure out the 'easy' solutions to getting healthier. And by easy I mean, it's so simple: eat right and get physical activity and you will be healthy (essentially). But even though it's an easy concept, following it is so much harder than I thought. Even sticking to it is hard. But then again, I love a challenge!

Darlin1 said...

You are a good friend in deed!

Justawallflower said...

As much as you have dreaded this conversation, I bet you did him a world of good. The only thing you left out was support. Whether it is from those around you, or here in blog land, support is a majorly important aspect as well. You really are a good friend, and I hope him all the best!

Justawallflower said...

Oh yeah, and I love the new background!

Angela said...

Good analogy. It is easy to talk about...just freakin' hard to do!!!

Kerri said...

Good analogy! No 2 people are the same and everyone loses at a different pace.

MandaPanda said...

OMG! I love absolutely love this analyst and I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to steal it and blog about it today. I'll give you due credit of course. So creative!

Sam said...

I like your analogy, simple and yet to the point :o)