Just Down the Hill

     So, we finished the movies!  They really are good.  Better than I remembered.  Long, but good. :-)  In "The Return of the King,"  there is a part where Frodo (the main character) and Sam (his best traveling companion) are seemingly very close to where they need to be.  But when they look, there is a ridiculously huge army of orcs (very bad, bad guys).  Frodo doesn't see how they can get through all of them to get to where they need to go.  He is overwhelmed by what lays ahead. Sam says, "Well right now we just need to get down this hill."  And so that's what they did.
     Life can be like that, overwhelming.  I see- the distance I want to run.  Planning for kindergarten and school for my kids. Saving money in our emergency fund and accomplishing other financial plans.  The weight loss goal I want to achieve.  And the list goes on and on and on...  It seems like it can suffocate me sometimes.  I look out at the long road that is years away.  It's just too much.  I don't know how I can do it and so I freeze.  In those times, I try to remember to look at right now.  When I am running and think I can't keep going, I tell myself, "Just one minute; think about this minute right now and run it.  Don't focus on anything but running this minute.  Not the miles.  Right now."  Then I can usually run the minute.  Then I tell myself to think about the minute right now.  And I keep running.  I reach my goal.  But often it is not by looking at the big overwhelming task I have before me. 
     I want to lose some weight.  But when I think about how long it could take and that it means I shouldn't eat the yummy not so good for me foods that I like all the time (mind you, I do have some  :-) )- I can't do it.  I just want to give up.  I want to sit down and eat a lot of chocolate.  But really, that will not help me.  So I have been trying to think about right now.  For this meal, right now, I am making a healthy choice.  For this movie, right now, I am eating an orange instead of chips.  I, like Frodo, have to take one part of the journey at a time.  Then, when I get to the bottom of the hill, I can think about the next part.  Thanks for reading.  :-)