Last week I had the opportunity to attend a women’s fitness competition near my home town.  The show was enjoyable and entertaining, and my wife and I both were rooting for her trainer.  I really enjoyed watching all the contestants walk up on stage and show off their tone bodies, mainly because I know how much dedication and motivation it takes to achieve their level of results.  More than 99% of all people in this world lack the fortitude to stick with something for the length of time it took these ladies to get to where they are.

However, there was one individual that really stuck out in my mind and gave me hope for all those suffering from obesity and lack of motivation.  Actually there were several women that I could comment on (one lady was over 60 years old and didn’t look a day over 40!), but this individual had my undivided attention when she took the stage.

The announcer asked her to come back out and tell her story after she had finished her portion of the presentation.  This lady was in her young 40’s, had three kids, and also had a full time job.  Oh by the way, she was recently divorced as well.  She had everything going against her going into this competition.  Her life was in shambles because she was previously a stay at home mom who now needed to get a job, and her kids were not yet old enough to take care of themselves during the day.  However, that isn’t what made her story remarkable.

What made this lady’s story unforgettable was the way that she came to be on that stage.  One year prior to this competition she weighed a ridiculous 260 pounds!  Can you imagine what a 260 pound female fitness competitor would look like?  No one can because they don’t exist.  This lady, through hard work, diet, exercise, and undeterred motivation managed to lose half of her body weight!  She weighed in at about 130 pounds when she took the stage last week!  She trained and trained and trained, no doubt about it.  But more importantly was her complete focus on achieving her goal of getting up on that stage.  That was her motivation.

When asked why she chose to lose the weight and become a fitness contestant, she simply replied “Because it was time to start living my life.”  Can you imagine having that type of dedication and commitment simply because you want to start living?  As the saying goes, you either get to living or get to dying, but make a choice.  What will be your choice for you and your children?

Are you ready to get to living?

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