The Phoenix is to rise from the ashes....

The Phoenix is an amazing mythical creature.  When it gets old and it is the time to die, it bursts into flames and becomes a pile of ashes, only to rise again as a youthful, strong phoenix again.  The cycle of life does have a beginning and an end, but there is always a new beginning waiting to rise up and take its place.

Have you ever thought of yourself as being a Phoenix?

I know, odd question.  Maybe I need to elaborate just a bit more.....

Ever had a huge challenge lay before you that you desire to achieve?  Look at it as a stage in your life, or as it is for the Phoenix, it is your life line.  I know I do.  It is....  Yep, gonna say it.... To lose some serious weight.  I know, I know....  I promised to not blog about my desire to get back down to my fighting weight, but today I let curiosity get the better of me and I stepped on that evil little thing....  My bathroom scale.  I thought that I was doing okay, but alas, I gained a couple more pounds.  I know what the culprit is, but I have not found a solution for it.  It is called balance.  When a person gives up one thing, we tend to find another thing to take its place.  Usually, it is something less damaging, I think, but I could be wrong.  It is like a reformed alcoholic becoming a serious coffee drinker and smoker; like a former smoker becoming overweight because food took the place of the cigarette.  Mine is being on a diet and exercise program that has one factor of a proper diet removed and replaced it with chocolate.  Yep, gave up bread for Lent and now craves chocolate all the time.  The desire to exercise has been put on perpetual hold due to a raging pain in my hip that decides to hurt once the desire to hit the gym arrives.  Instead of going for a walk, I sit my butt down and read a book.

Yep, I am that Phoenix.  Looking at the devastation of my failed attempts of losing weight.  The ashes and cinders of every successful sabotage of a healthier lifestyle.  I know that I have been eating right for the most part, but lacking the vision for portion control.  I have the energy to be more active, but have a stronger will to be lazy.  All I need to do now is step into the fiery pile, let it consume me and rise again as a stronger and more determined person.

I guess my thought of being a Phoenix can inspire you to be one too.  Maybe your challenge is different, maybe it is the same, but knowing that if you face the devastation, dive into the wreckage and let it become all that you see, it will consume you.  In the end, you will become that Phoenix that faces the flames and will rise above it all a stronger person for it.

May today be the day that you rise and conquer the flames of defeat to rise above it all with a new sense of hope and determination.  To never lay down and die, but to rise up and live life to the fullest.  As for me... I am grabbing my iPod and going to the gym... pain and all.