My Batman Shirt or a celebration of happy things

A little over a year ago I bought a Batman T-shirt. I bought in the 3X which is the size of all of my shirts, but it was a tad bit more snug than the other shirts, but it still fit, so I wore it out and about. Pretty soon after I bought it, I started to put a lot of the weight I lost two years ago, back on. Quickly that shirt became one that I put in the back of the closet never to be been seen again. My girlfriend still thought it looked good on me, but I did not feel comfortable in it. I was always worried that my fat was going to come creeping out from under the shirt and scare small children, or swallow puppies. Away it stayed for months and months. I would wear it around the house on laundry day, but it was never to see the outside again. I would never say that it was my goal to be able to feel comfortable in that shirt again, because it feels silly to have that as a goal, but it has been on my mind these last few weeks. This last week was a bit nuts with trying to finish class with my seniors and make sure they all passed and could graduate, so I fell behind on laundry and found myself staring the Batman shirt in the face. I put it on and it fit very much like it fit when I first bought it. This is progress. It still does not fit as nicely as I would like, but I wore it out in public and did not worry about feeling super uncomfortable. it is about the small victories, right?

And now celebrating positive things, as this blog has focused on the darker stuff lately:

I have yet to feel the pain of my tendinitis on any of my walks over the last two weeks. It has been glorious to be able to walk around without that particular pain weighing me down. I am not sure if it is due to me being more active on a regular basis or because of the accessory I purchased when I bought my shoes, but either way, it is an incredible feeling.

I have had 1 8 ounce cup of soda in roughly 3 weeks and I have not had a single Rockstar since I decided to cut them out.

Most of the need for the energy drink has been eliminated due to having more natural energy because I am not eating such crappy food.

I have really cut back on my snacking. I have been snacking on healthier foods, but I have been trying to cut back on snacking and so far it is working.

For so many years I just accepted my lack of will power as the rule in my life. I have had a terrible time fighting off my cravings for bad food, and have had a terrible time turning my life into a series of good habits. It turns out that it was about owning my will power. While Erik has been just killing it health wise in Oregon, he knew he could not force me into changes. The person has to be ready to really make the change, and for whatever reason it was not until recently that I felt ready. I think you can switch out "ready" for "worthy" and it makes more sense in my particular situation. I know Erik still wants me to fully embrace his Primal lifestyle, but he has not been pushing it and I appreciate that. I actually appreciate it from everyone. People have been incredibly supportive, and offered advice, but no one has been incredibly forceful. I know I have to figure out what is best for me personally. Every person is different and for me, I think a patchwork lifestyle change is one that is going to work best. Just call me Tarantino. I take existing parts and change them, rewrite them, reshoot them and make them their own work of art. Okay, that might among the most douchey things I have ever said.

I am about to come to the end of a very fulfilling journey and embark on the next phase. Student teaching has been the single most rewarding part of my life and now I am heading into the world of looking for a teaching job. I am also getting ready to look for a new place to live and currently trying to find summer work as well. The stress of all of this would normally launch me into an emotional tailspin, but I am getting my emotional health into a much better place. I am actually finding that getting my emotional health right has been much tougher, yet much more helpful in getting the rest of my health right. So many of my food issues are tied to emotional issues.

I am going to ask a question here and I hope to get enough responses either as comments or facebook, or text, or wherever, but would it be okay if occasionally I used this blog to write about something other than my health? I have this desire to write a blog post about my time as a student teacher, but do not want to turn readers away, and do not really want to start a whole other blog. It is perfectly okay to say "no" as this is lifestyle change blog.