(Day 179 / -99 lbs.) You're Such a LOSER!

Picture this:

I get up every morning, bleary-eyed and groggy, pad over to the bathroom and splash water over the stubble of the night's beard growth. As I stand in front of the mirror drying my face, I give myself a visual once-over and assess the results of my efforts and foibles along the path of my physical reformation. I pause, stare myself directly in the eyes and with as much somber seriousness as I can muster, declare,

“You are a LOSER! You lost yesterday. You'll lose today, and you're gonna lose tomorrow. So get out there you FAT LOSER and LOSE.”

How's that for a daily affirmation? OK, so it needs a little polish. How about something like,

“You are a WINNER! Everything you SET YOUR MIND to you ACCOMPLISH. You are THINNER, SMARTER, and BETTER-LOOKING than you were yesterday. You are getting BETTER EVERY DAY, in EVERY WAY and your MOM thinks you're SPECIAL.”

or,

“You are the king of your castle and the master of your domain. All tremble before you and marvel at your brilliance. Women swoon and men are envious in your presence. You are one mamma-slamma-jamma!”

Oy! You're right, way too much. You've probably considered and come to the conclusion that I've probably got pudding for brains but before you outright dismiss me as a total whacko please consider this: I never have, nor can I imagine myself in the future, stood in front of a mirror to give myself an affirmation, pep talk, or scolding. The voices in my head tell me it's just plain crazy to do stuff like that.

OK, so I really don't hear voices in my head. And please, oh please, understand that I am in no way critical of those who do or those who make daily affirmations. Please do what ever you need to do to bolster your confidence to accomplish your goals, that's totally cool, just understand that, FOR ME, I just don't buy into all that external motivation.

I think that motivation comes from within; that people really don't NEED someone (even our reflections) telling us what to do. I think humans (all of us) CAN do a hell of a lot more than what we WILL do and I believe that WILL approaches CAN when we recognize, realize, and internalize the consequences and possibilities of our actions and then TAKE ACTION.

Now, I'm a hypocrite of sorts. You could say this blog catharsis thing is a sort of affirmation-- and you may be right. OK, so I talk the talk but I don't always walk the walk. That's what this renaissance-thing is all about- so that Steve v4.7 renders Steve v4.6 obsolete, discarded, and no longer supported.