Silence Doesn't Indicate Inertia...

I love this blog. I know it is hard to tell that from the long absences--okay, complete neglect--over the past couple of years, but I do!

When I started the MegaChallenge, I was some 39 (50) pounds overweight, living in a marriage that threatened my life, working on my degree, homeschooling my kids, and in need of a place where I could "talk" without being edited. It was an act of courage--actually several, since it took multiple tries to get logged on to blog spot--that started this blog. When I wrote that very first entry I honestly had no idea whether anyone would read it.

Then something amazing happened. People did read it, but that wasn't the real magic. The real magic was finding other people who were in the same boat. No, not identical boats--just similar ones. There were these other bloggers who were also losing weight, but the pounds weren't actually the point. Life was the point. They were exploring that question that seems to manifest itself from some common place in us all--"Why are we here?"

Of course, the answers varied widely. They had to. How could Allan--an admitted foodie and a food broker from NYC--maintain his sanity as he made his attempt to lose weight while handling the most decadent of foods all day every day? How could Renee drop the pounds while carrying around her self-doubts? How would Trish bounce back from a post-tummy-tuck weight gain while she juggled her responsibilities and the ones she took on for her family? How would Shawna hold up under media scrutiny when her weight-loss blog and book made her famous?

Sure, we were all talking about weight and diet and exercise and scales, but they weren't the only common themes. Other A-Has emerged as we blogged.

Balance -- Maintenance -- Relationships -- Goals --Celebration

Those are the topics of larger conversations. Yeah, I lost weight and worked out and wrote about it on this blog. But I also transformed my life, found balance, improved my relationships, set brand new goals, and celebrated successes of all sorts!

I thought about deleting the MegaChallenge when I co-created Blissification with my long-time, off-line friend, Christine. Blissification is all about what I am up to now: helping folks find their bliss. But I paused on the delete link. Maybe the MegaChallenge still has its purpose. If I am telling someone that they can be happy and all they see is the current Gina--the one who lives on 6 acres in a gorgeous part of the world, with a wonderfully supportive husband, a job she loves, and kids all around, and who is regularly called, "PollyAnna"--will they believe I have any idea what they are going through?

So, the MegaChallenge stays so that if at some point someone wants to know how I got from where I was to where I am, I can point them here.

And, who knows? At some point this 10 extra pounds that I have been carrying around for the past year might become something I want to eliminate. When I get past the precontemplation stage, this is exactly where I want to record that journey.