Now... Where to Begin?

So... I've made this decision to take a new approach to my life... my first and most daunting question... where the h*ll do I begin!?!? There are so many things about myself that I want to work on to become happier, healthier and more confident!! I know I said before that my plan is simple...and it is but in all honesty it's like a whole life transformation! And if any of you are like me you understand the urge to want to take everything on right now!! But I think perhaps that's one of my weaknesses... I try to take on these huge objectives all at the same time and want everything to change immediately, and when they don't, or I start to feel overwhelmed I get frustrated and give up. I don't want that to happen this time, I want to do things differently. In the words of (I think) Elbert Einstein - "Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result." So now it's time to figure out how to make this journey of mine a success!

I started to read a book awhile back, Push by Chalene Johnson... I never actually finished the book but it did have some really good lessons and ideas that I think might be a good place to begin my journey. I'm pretty sure the book is about weight loss, but the beginning of it talks about reaching goals, and that the best way to approach them and ultimately reach them is to START SMALL (obviously not something I'm good at.) Chalene had recommended writing down your goals both big and small and then breaking them down until you had every little step that would need to be accomplished in order for you to reach your ultimate goal. Since I never finished the book I never put this theory to the test but as I've been thinking about where to begin this new journey of mine this approach seems like the most logical thing to do. Sometimes I feel like I give up because I have all these things going in my head... jumping from task to task... until eventually I just get too frustrated to do any of them.

From the beginning of this journey one of my most important goals is to live a lifestyle free of counting calories and dieting, and to focus on clean eating.  Now, I know everyone has their own definition of what clean eating is to them, and I think it's important for my success for me to clearly establish what clean eating means to me and how I want it to fit into my new lifestyle. I think for me clean eating is preparing a lot of my(our) own meals and canning food using as many unprocessed foods as possible. Now I know that I will never be the person who can do this entirely (I know Nate says never to say never but I love me some Kraft Mac and Cheese...so I'm quite sure I'll eat it again some day haha) but I'm ok with that. I don't want to put so many restrictions on myself that I can't enjoy a dinner out with some friends, or splurge a bit while we're on one of our many vacations to VT like I used to. I feel that my restrictions used to play a big part in my unhappiness and frustration.

So my first question... where to begin... I think most appropriately the beginning of my journey should begin by figuring out where I want it to end. As I sit here and think about that, this is surprisingly harder to do then expected...I'm not sure I can answer that in one sitting, but I think that's ok... I don't think I would be honest with myself or with you if I could just sit here and spit out everything in detail that I hope to accomplish from this journey. Sure, I can vaguely state that I want to be healthier and live a clean lifestyle, be happier, and more confident but what does that mean? How can I break that down even further? Questions to ponder ...until next time!