A good story illustrates that anything is possible. It is all the more powerful when the story is true. At lunch today I was talking to someone about the fitness challenge we had at work a couple of months ago. It was a pretty simple program of tracking your exercise and your veggie intake. We shared some great examples of how this simple program changed lives for the better.
One person grew up in a family that never ate dinner together. She ate TV dinners and fast food for most of her life. She was not accustomed to any kind of exercise or activity that used body strength, so she didn't have a good body image. While participating in this fitness program she made one small change. She started taking ballet lessons. For the first time she felt at home in her own skin, and she enjoyed the challenge of learning the positions and a few steps. She signed up for just a 6 week introduction to ballet, but she enjoyed it so much that she has continued with dance lessons. She now says ballet is her favorite creative activity.
Another person benefited from the fitness program by recording fruit and veggie intake. At first she said she couldn't participate. She had stomach staple surgery and had very strict rules to follow about the amount of food she could eat. But after realizing that the portion size could be adjusted to meet those requirements, she decided to give it a try. Eating small amounts of food is good, but eating foods with colors like green, red and yellow is important, too. She started including more fresh, healthy foods in her diet and she lost some more weight. She also discovered that she liked more kinds of vegetables than she ever thought.
Sharing these stories about real people making changes for the better is very inspiring. It makes us realize that anything is possible, and that real people succeed when they put their mind to something. That is the power of story.
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