When you really, really want something, it usually means we have to sacrifice something. That might be money, time, watching your favourite TV Show, sleep, energy, food or drink. But, making sacrifices gets you to where you want to be.
Picture this!
You pull up at the traffic lights next to a brand spanking new, Audi R8 with a 5 litre V10 engine. You look at the driver and smile. You turn away and think ‘lucky so and so’, or something along those lines! But, stop and think – with anything worth having in life, sacrifices need to be made, we don’t just get handed anything that is worth having, we have to earn it. What did that person have to sacrifice to be able to drive that car?
For a start, they would have had to sacrifice about £120000. Then think a bit more, what did they have to sacrifice to be able to comfortably hand over £120000? Unless they have won the lottery, they will have worked so hard to have that sort of cash in the bank. Working hard means even more sacrifices, long days (and nights) at work, not seeing family and friends, missing out on children growing up. But the end result is they get what they want – they get what is important to them – they get the car.
For some of us, maybe most of us, whilst we might think an Audi R8 is a beautiful car, we are quite happy driving our every day vehicles or using public transport, and we don’t really care enough about the car that we drive to be prepared to sacrifice that level of money, all that time and all that effort to earn the money, in order to get the dream vehicle. However, there will be lots of occasions where we have had to make sacrifices to get what we want.
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Wise Words
I remember when I was in my final year of my degree at university and I was on the phone to my Mum, complaining about how much work I had to get through, and what a challenge it was going to be. My Mum said something to me that I have never forgotten, and it has stuck with me ever since. Mum said, ‘Rachel, they don’t just give degrees out, you have to earn it. It’s the same with anything that’s worth having, you have to work for it.’ And my Mum, the wise owl that she is, was 100% right. We don’t get given anything worth having, we have to work for it. We have to make sacrifices. it doesn’t come quick and it doesn’t come easy.
There will be other things that we have all had to make sacrifices for. Things that are important to us, so we are prepared to give something else up to get it. We want a house, we sacrifice our social lives and holidays to save the deposit for the rent or the mortgage. We have children, so we sacrifice all sorts of things that we never knew we would – lots of sleep, money and time – to keep our precious babies happy, healthy and content. We want qualifications, so we sacrifice our time to spend hours and hours studying for exams, writing essays, dissertations and theses. We want new clothes or shoes, so we set aside some of our salary or wages, and sacrifice a night out or another type of treat, to be able to afford them. We want a promotion, so we act above our pay grade, take on extra responsibility and work longer hours, sacrificing time with our families and friends, to prove that we are worthy of the next step up, and the bigger pay cheque.
We can all do this!
The simple fact of the matter is, we can’t have our cake and eat it. If we want to improve our health and wellbeing, lose weight and get fitter, for whatever our motivation might be, something else has to give. We will have to sacrifice something, we have to be prepared to eat less food and drink and eat (some) different types of food and drink.
We are all capable of sacrifice. We know that we are, because we have done it in many areas of our lives. In the dictionary, sacrifice is defined as: ‘an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.’ Essentially, you give up something fairly important, for something even more important.
So, I ask you, what is more important?
Being around longer for your loved ones or eating cheese?
Increased self confidence or chips instead of salad?
Getting to the top of the stairs without being out of breath or not breaking a sweat in your workout?
Shouting ‘a size smaller please’ from the changing rooms, or an hour of TV or Facebook time instead of planning meals and taking a little longer to food shop, so that you make the right choices?
Feeling happy and content or drinking pints of beer instead of pints of lime and soda, or a spirit and diet mixer?
Being able to chase your children or grandchildren or 1 hour, 3 times a week when you could be doing some exercise?
Being a healthy role model for your children and grand children or Pizza Friday?
Reversing your diabetes or a starter and a dessert at your favourite restaurant?
You know what the answer to these questions are – what are you waiting for?