|| 20 September 2018

Vision, Weight Loss And My Old Fence

When it comes to weight loss, vision can be a useful thing. If you can see clearly in your mind how much better you will look and feel after your weight loss, it can be a useful aid to taking off the extra pounds.

But . . .if you have a 47-year-old fence that has been hit once by the garbage truck (two sections out there), twice by skidding cars, has been ripped apart by the same storm that felled a big sycamore in your front yard — and is being chewed on by carpenter ants, then vision may not be helpful.

In my case, every time I looked at that old fence, instead of seeing the pathetic amalgamation of wood splinters and rusty nails, in my mind, I saw this beautiful new fence. And so put off actually calling a fencing company to install a new one.

But while the new gas line was being installed in August, and I could not avoid seeing the expressions on the workmen’s faces when they looked at that old fence. I suspected that with all those rusty nails sticking out here and there, they made sure their tetanus shots were up to date. In any case, their reactions forced me to view my old fence more realistically. And consequently to do something about a new fence.

Of course, there are a multitude of decisions to be made before you have a new fence installed. Wrong decisions can cost you money and make you unhappy with the appearance. Likewise, for a serious weight loss effort, there are a multitude of decisions to be made about method, pace of weight loss, and desired goal. Some serious decision making in advance can save you unhappiness with the outcome — and make your success more likely.

And if your appearance after weight loss improves as much as that of my fencing after replacement, you will be looking absolutely splendid.

images: (top) Anne's old fence. (below) Anne's new fence