Houston, We Have A Problem

by | Sep 12, 2016 | #KickWeight, Blog, Health, Inspiration

“Houston, we have a problem.” In order to change anything we have to recognize we have a problem. In the case of the Apollo 13 mission to land on the moon, the problem was an explosion in one of the oxygen tanks.

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Pretending

Many times you and I deny or pretend to deny we have an issue or problem. If we don’t recognize it, we falsely think it will just resolve itself. This is true on many fronts, finances, relationships, education and training, emotions and weight loss, just to name a few.

The words, “Houston, we’ve got a problem,” or something similar, were spoken by John Swigert, Jr. and then James Lovell of the crew of the spacecraft when reporting the explosion back to their base in Houston on April 14, 1970.

If the crew had denied their problem, they would never have made it back to earth.

As a result, the crew had to obit the Moon and return to Earth without landing. They aborted their mission. They didn’t hit their target.

Circling the Problem

How many times do we feel we have a problem that requires us to continue circling our goal? We’re so close, but it feels like we just can’t reach it. So we just abort and return to where we started.

It happened to me many times. I’d lose weight, get really close to my goal and then something would happen. Sometimes it wasn’t even something unforeseen, such as Halloween candy, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas parties, New Year’s Eve. Each one would take me further and further away from what I said I wanted.

Then, I’d look at myself and think, “I’ve got a problem even Houston can’t help me with!” So I would give up trying and go back to what I’d always done before. Eat an enormous amount of food to assuage my guilt for gaining weight.

Does that make sense? Of course not. Emotional eating never does.

Successful Failure

The importance of any problem is not whether we solved it and reached our goal, but what we learned in the process. The Apollo 13 mission, according to NASA’s website, was classified as a “successful failure” because of the experience gained in rescuing the crew.

There were some anxious moments, but all returned to earth alive.

Apollo 13 had a trained crew, but more than that they had a fully equipped team with some of the best minds available back on Earth strategizing in how to get them back home safely.

Here’s the point, we are going to fail. That’s a given. The issue is what will we learn from our failure? What we learn makes it a successful failure, one that can lead us to victory the next time.

Failure Is A Great Teacher

Failure is a great teacher. It teaches us what not to do the next time. Every diet I’ve ever gone on, and I have been on many through the years, has taught me something different.

They helped me define what works and what doesn’t work for me. They helped me see, for instance, that I can lose weight when I don’t eat sweets and breads, but when I start again I can’t stop eating them. That helped me define my healthy living lifestyle plan, one that is simple and easy for me to follow.

My Secret Weapon

Many people ask me what it is. It’s no secret, however, it may not work for you. You may be different from me. Everyone is. That’s why a one-size fits all diet never works.

In my coaching class, #KickWeight, I teach how to develop your own healthy living plan, one that you and God work on together, one that you own and adopt willingly.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that I will not work someone else’s plan. It has to be one that I have called my own.

We’ll be opening the doors of #KickWeight2 really soon. If you’re ready to blast off on your healthy living lifestyle journey, get on the waitlist now to be notified when we’re ready for you to join. We will have limited spots. I’d love you to have one of them.