77 Days | Who Stole Our Fun?!

If you're on our Facebook page, you may have seen that Dan & I went on a date last night.  A date that didn't revolve around indulging in unhealthy food.  Delicious food, yes.  Unhealthy food, no.  We had a great time just being TOGETHER.  But my journey didn't start that way.  I was cranky and irritable for some time when I first started my journey toward health.  Maybe you can relate.  Here's how it was for me...

WHO STOLE MY FUN?!
Tick, tick, tick...the clock was moving slowly and my family wasn't in a hurry to get up and get the day started.  Normally, I would have been thankful for that.  Quietness.  Alone time.  Things a mother relishes.

Then, once everyone was awake, I was immediately biting off their heads.  I definitely put on my grumpy pants. (Which, might I add, were much looser than a week ago!  Ha ha!)

Last night, once the kids were in bed, I finally said the words out loud.

"I'm bored."

There was no response. 

This morning, I woke up and found myself immediately sighing again.  I was putting on my make-up and getting ready for the day when I said the words out loud again.

"I'm bored."

This time Dan responded.  "It's tough to realize how much of our entertainment has been derived from food, huh?"

At Max Brenner's Chocolate Factory in New York City while on our Foods of New York Tour that we hosted in July 2010.
  

I hadn't thought about that.  He was right.  I didn't realize that I was grouchy because I wanted to eat.  I didn't realize that I was hungry because I was bored and wanted something to do.  No, not just SOMETHING to do--I wanted to eat.  I wanted to go to a restaurant and order a five course meal and sit and linger over it with a glass of wine.  I wanted to come home and sit up for another five hours exploring the kitchen cupboards.  Wait...NO.  I didn't really WANT that.  I didn't even realize that was why I was upset.  I just realized there was a void.  And the void was food.  And...I was bored.

But you have to be kidding!  I am here with my husband and my children.  We are surrounded by toys and places to go and things to see and kittens to love and friends and family and a church and...

It's not so much boredom as it is discontentment.  I don't want those things.  I want something to entertain me and be easy and be mindless and be pleasurable.

It's time to redefine all of those things.  Food is not entertainment.  Food is not ease.  Food is fuel.  And it can be pleasurable.  But it is not my satisfaction and it does not bring comfort.  I have been deceived by my Food Idolatry for a long time.  I have to find a new way to live.

FOOD has stolen my fun for a very long time.  Now, I need to rediscover what fun really is.  And be content along the way.

At the pinnacle of a hike in spring 2013.  It was time to refuel before the hike back down.  Now THIS was fun!