hey miss you cinna. hope all is well.
Awww... thanks, doll - I truly appreciate it.
I'm stopping by because I had a most brilliant idea and I just had to share it in my journal! ...that's right - your journal! (That's what I said... "I just had to share it in your journal!")
I noticed that for some reason, I don't really ask for advice or help on this forum (while I will ask simple questions). It has nothing to do with me thinking that I don't need advice or help... I seem to prefer gleaning advice/help/tips by reading other people's posts/responses. I suspect that it has to do with the part of me that tends to insist on being self-sufficient, autonomous, etc.
But - I also really enjoy doing things that I don't normally do. So, I'm going to discuss/propose/do two very uncharacteristic things here:
1. I'm going to ask for something.
2. Instead of waiting to do things until I've achieved this or that so that I have the confidence, blah blah blah, I'm going to proceed (starting tomorrow - I need a day to mentally prepare myself) AS IF - basically, I'm going to "fake it until I make it." I believe "faking until making" works - I just never practice it.
OK, this is the idea. I have a goal. I want to achieve it, but the reward of achieving it doesn't seem to be enough motivation for me. This is where you come in. I feel that I am more likely to achieve my goal if one of my incentives is a reward/surprise/token of congratulations from you - and/or any good friend from the forum who wants to support. (Yes, even as I type this, I think I am brilliant and insane at the same time.)
So I think the reward should be a surprise - that adds to the excitement. And it doesn't have to have great/any monetary value. It could be a mixed cd; a trinket that has some significance; a cool button/magnet/whatever - just something way better than a used bandaid, please. What would you get in return? My heartfelt appreciation - and I would reciprocate if you have some goal, any goal - whether fitness/health/career/personal development/overcoming karaoke fears/whathaveyou - that you think the anticipation of a little surprise treat/reward would help motivate you. The cool part is, even if I were disappointed by my surprise (just a hypothetical), at least I achieved my goal!
But - if you were to accept my request (I'm not sure what to call it yet), you would only do so if you supported my goal and thought it was doable, not totally unsafe, etc. And say, for example, I got ten people backing me - imagine how much more motivated I would be if I were anticipating TEN surprise treats! I don't know if it's sad that I have to bribe myself with gifts from people I've never met, but I'm willing to try things that might work... And one of the best feelings in the world is receiving a little package in the mail and not knowing what's in it (that is, receiving it from a friend and knowing it has good-intention contents in it).
I believe this idea could also work without necessarily stating the actual goal or details, but the details would probably earn me more support. So, as you know, I wouldn't normally ask for anything, but even at the risk of feeling exposed, I'm willing to see what happens. Basically, I weigh 10-15 lbs more than I need to and I would like to lose it by Dec. 31st. If you would like to encourage me to meet that goal (and you find it realistic and safe), just say you accept my request and send me some interesting reward once I've achieved my goal. (Believe me, I've never done anything like this and I'm usually not very goal-oriented.) If you decide to reject my "request/goal," please do so by PM or just ignore this post (so people will think that you accepted my request/goal by PM and I can pretend that I haven't embarrassed myself on the public forum).
I'm offering this proposal/idea to KD and others on the forum that I've had some rapport/exchange with - no offense to others, I just feel more comfortable giving out my mailing address to those I've connected with already (just PM me if you want to send me something special and thoughtful).
Also, I'm still taking a bit of a break...
So part two - faking it. What I'm going to fake until I make it is self-confidence. It doesn't come easy to me - I think it partly comes from grade school... I got good grades in grade school (but not h.s.) and I was shocked when I found out that some kids thought I was stuck up because of it. I found myself downplaying my intelligence. So part of me fears that people won't like me anymore and will think/speak poorly of me if I'm confident, or competent, or believe in myself - how sad (while I realize at the same time that people love confident people and I shouldn't care what people think about me).
So I just want to see what happens if I proceed AS IF I am as wonderful/talented/beautiful as people say I am. The main reason why I want to do this is because I believe my career could be very different and amazing if I believed what others believe about me (well, the good stuff - like, what if it's true?) and I was just willing to believe that I could be a great artist. And I keep seeing over and over and over again but haven't quite "learned" is how confidence is almost everything. Even with excess weight, I've been able to perform confidently and I'm getting just as many, if not more compliments now... and much of it is just because of the confidence that comes with experience - I know enough to know that I can be a rad-ass performer NOW without losing any weight - just as long as I believed it. This also ties in with my goal - the weight loss and getting in shape is part of my livelihood/profession/art and instead of just faking confidence when I perform, I'd like to exude confidence in all non-performing aspects of my career.
<sigh> I'm kind of scared to do this part two experiment, but I think it would be good/interesting for me and if everyone accuses me of being a monster egomaniac at the end, I could just say, "Haha, just kidding! It was an EXPERIMENT." So I'll start that tomorrow and I plan on doing it until the end of the year (basically just encourage myself, build myself up, proceed as if I've already achieved what I thought I needed to to feel confident, etc. without waiting for others to build me up from the outside). This is just a personal project - there is no specific goal (just something to work towards and observe results), so you don't have to send me a reward for this one.
And just to warn you - starting tomorrow - if I stop by the forum and I seem like a different person, please don't hate me. I'm just trying to unleash a bit of the inner cocky person that resides in everyone.
OK, back to the business of fun - thanks again for indulging me. I'm so proud of your continued experiments and success!
P.S. No one bother asking for current "before" pictures... I have a really strong feeling that you're not gonna get those...
P.P.S. Regarding the part two experiment, starting tomorrow, I'm just going to "be" (who I think I would be if I had what I believe that I lack). In other words, I may not keep talking about the experiment or refer to it. I'm not sure yet.
P.P.P.S. "...like fatty snow on a carcass" - very poetic... My WF only has grain-fed and grain-finished buffalo (I think).