What to do when everything goes wrong

Life is hard. Weight loss is hard. Put the two together and yikes, double-hard. Everything goes okay for a while, and then bam - chaos happens, somebody dies or gets hurt, people change, events happen - and before you know it, everything seems to be going wrong and you lose focus. Or lose your mind. Or so it seems.

I see this all the time with my clients. In reviewing their weight loss history, there always seems to be a time when everything goes wrong. Something happens that sets them back - an event, a person - something happens to them and they just let themselves go. They lose priority in their lives. And their health suffers. I deal with this all the time - trying to help clients overcome the emotional chaos that keeps them from living a healthy life and having a fit, healthy body. It happens to everybody, it happens to me.

In July, everything pretty much went wrong. At least it seems that way. Less than two weeks out from doing a tri with a client and coming home from a great ride with a friend, I crashed my bike. Totaled it. No big deal, right? At least that's what those around me said. "Just get another one". Um, I don't just ride any bike. It's my baby. I ride 100+ miles a week. It's my workout partner. I love my bike. And it's expensive. Boom, just like that, starting over. I ended up backing out of the tri because I am too stubborn to borrow a bike from anyone and ended up letting down my client as well.

Just like the United States right now, I am having debt and financial difficulties. Like everyone else around me. Every time I hear something about the US debt in the news, I think about my situation and how to apply what they are doing to what I am doing. It doesn't work that way. But the pressure is on and I feel it all the time. It feels overwhelming and never seems to end.

Ups and downs in relationships. I don't believe in true love because it's too much work. Seriously, when will I ever get a fraction back of what I give? I know, that's not the intent of love. You are supposed to give and give and give and not worry about getting back. But crap, you'd think I'd get a little something back more than this. I see relationships around me crumble and wonder if I am next?

So through the stress and the time when everything goes wrong, what happens to my health? What happens to my fitness? Nothing. I don't win in the triathlon with my great bike. I don't pay off all my bills in a flurry. I don't get the love I deserve. I just muddle on through it. I'll figure it out. I still eat clean, pretty much anyway. I had a brief sorrowful return to the 'ol ice cream solitude, but got over that quick. I still get in my workouts. Dropped the tri schedule, quit the bike rides, but found some other workouts that I hadn't done in a while, so kept moving. I'll figure it out. Kept doing the things you are supposed to be doing. Kept my family intact and kept my faith that someday I'll be rewarded for doing good. I'll figure it out.

It doesn't all have to make sense. But you can't lose your health over it. You can't just stop working out because things happen. You can't just start eating crap because things happen. You can't just give up because bad things happen and everything goes wrong. You just have to pick yourself up, believe in the good in people and situations, and go on. You'll figure it out.

It's August and I still don't have a bike yet. I'll figure it out.
They cancelled my upcoming Olympic tri in September [who cancels a tri?], so now I am raceless goal-wise. I'll figure it out.
The bills keep on coming and I keep paying them. I'll figure it out.
The relationships keep going up and down. I'll figure it out.

But while I'm figuring it out, I'll stay healthy, I'll stay fit. I'll keep living a healthy lifestyle because otherwise, I'm just a statistic that happens when everything goes wrong.