Saturday, May 19, 2012

"No man is a failure who has friends!"

I had a pretty decent post here, but my app crashed & deleted it. I'm not happy. I'm going to have to sum up:

Bullet points:
* I won Rookie Receptionist of the year, thanks to my meeting whore-ding & awesomely helpful coworkers!
* I found out from my dr that some "suspicious" spots in my neck are gone! Backstory here: A Real Pain in the Neck
* I ran the Brooklyn Half Marathon today and I PRd by 18mins! WHAAA?
* I received word that my own success story will be posted on the Weight Watchers site sometime this week. I was a freakin mess when I found out. I was convinced they decided not to use my story. I still have some self-esteem issues to work on, but that aside, I cannot wait to see it and show some of my members! They will be so excited and will hopefully trigger their own thought process that it is possible for them to accomplish their goals too! (My Success Story)
* I've been doing the Event Planning for the Weight Watchers WNY area:

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/WWofWNY
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/WWofWNY
(Updated January, 2015)

I love helping plan these events! Our members really need a boost to stay focused, particularly this time of year. Nothing makes me happier than knowing I'm helping someone make some realizations about themselves and their self-esteem that will help it all "click" for them.

Very direct case in point: I was elated this week to have my mom stand up at the Success Stories Live event and declare that she's starting to see "I can" in her "I can't", which is a really powerful moment. Changing your identity is one of the most difficult and sneaky parts of the weight loss journey.

Spending time in Buffalo with such great coworkers and friends and then coming to NYC to see my former leader and RWs, run the race yesterday with Sheryl (www.sherylyvette.com), Kitty and Mikey Trisket and then later hang with Justin & Donuts really starts to show me what is and what should be important in my life. Thankfully, I have a constant reminder tattooed on the inside of my left arm, as a gift from Misha and Lisa:

"No man is a failure who has friends!"

It's a quote from my favorite film of all time, It's a Wonderful Life. I need to focus on my George Bailey tendencies and remember that despite my inability to work in my chosen field of film & tv, I am not a failure. I can always help make a positive difference in the quality of life of those around me.

I also found that all the drama I experience between my illness and our unexpected move, helped show me who my real friends were and who stepped up. Cancer didn't take my life, but it took the life I knew away from me in many ways.

For anyone who knows me, my concept of friendship ended somewhere around 7th or 8th grade, where my friends will always come first. I am fiercely protective and will do anything for them.

I consider myself a pretty decent judge of character and although I was disappointed by a few of those around us, I was serendipitously overwhelmed on a daily basis by friends who did step up to check on me regularly and offered help whenever we needed it, some of whom were online friends I never even met in real life. Nothing becomes a reality check of who deserves your friendship, like going through something like this. It gave me a new perspective and a standard by which I will hold myself to, because my real friends and I deserve it.

Anyway, I hope I covered everything.

I just wanted to say a big thank you to my parents and Mikey. I love my friends and family so much and I deeply appreciate all the support I've been given over this last year.

Thank you for justifying my choice in permanent body modification! ;)