There's All Kinds of Encouragement

I've been struggling with weight loss for a long time now.  I go to the gym, and I go take classes, but every once in a while I get some asshole who decides to "tell me" what I should be doing to lose weight, or makes a very nasty comment about my size, my ability to exercise, etc.

I admit that I am very overweight.  I work at it.  I do.  I try to eat right, and I try to exercise.

Even so, those snarky comments get me down.

But this week, I met a professional athlete at the gym.  Actually, he's been around all week, visiting family.

No snarky comments from this man.  NONE.  He was absolutely wonderful when I met him the first time.  Introduced himself, joked around for a while and moved on.

Every day since then, I've seen him, either in the gym, or at the grocery store.

You know what?

He remembers my name.

When I saw him at the grocery store, he asked if I had been to the gym yet that day as he hadn't seen me when he was there.  Was I planning on going that day?  He introduced me to his family, and I returned the favor.  He told me he was going to be looking for me at the gym the next day.  Would I be there? 

Honestly, I don't know why he's bothering to talk to me, or why he cares.

But the fact that he noticed me, remembered my name, and shot the breeze with me for a few minutes in the grocery store impressed me no end. 

Yes, I did go to the gym the next day.  I'll be there again today.  Not so much because I might run into some absolutely huge professional athlete that I can see on television, but because someone noticed that I was there, and cared enough to acknowledge my presence without offering any judgement about me or my current state of being.  He made me feel a part of the community, and as if I belong.

That's the kind of encouragement that people who are struggling with weight loss need when they go to any fitness facility.  A welcome, a feeling that we belong, and encouragement to keep going.  Not judgement, not harsh words, not "advice".  Believe me, we already have that self talk with ourselves on a daily basis.

Thanks so much to this amazing professional who has put himself out to make people feel welcome - even though it's not his facility, and he's the guest in our town.  What a gracious person.

There's all kinds of encouragement.  This kind is a good kind.