Millie.For.Life!

Ahhh, the beloved treadmill.  I know of very few people who actually "love" using a treadmill.  The mere mention of the word makes people cringe.  It represents effort, time, change (hopefully)...and sweat.  For most people, though, their time on the treadmill is, well, timed.  Twenty minutes three times a week.  Or 45 minutes once a month - if they're lucky.  But for some people, their entire lives revolve around the treadmill - it's the center of their universe.  They don't know how it happened.  One day they just realized that they've been on that same treadmill for years.  They fought getting on it, finally faced their fears and put on one foot then the other, hated it but persevered, finally got comfortable...and then never got off.  To change things up a bit they'd increase the speed every now and then.  When they were feeling really daring they increased the speed AND the incline!!  Whew!  The excitement was exhilarating!  But every once in a while they grew weary, and their pace slowed down so much that they felt like they were actually crawling.  

And so the attachment grew.  They were becoming intimate with the treadmill.  They knew that at 8.2 incline every 37 seconds the belt would shift ever so slightly to the left.  They eagerly anticipated the days when they would meet with the speed of "as fast as it would go" because it meant they would feel alive again.  And on the days when they'd need to crawl, they knew they could trust their treadmill - "Millie" they call her nowadays - to be their friend and constant when no one else could or even tried to understand them.  They had formed a relationship - a partnership - with "Millie."  So much so that the very thought of ever leaving "Millie" was debilitating.  The reason they had ever gotten on "Millie" in the first place has become irrelevant because their identities are now indistinguishable.  I mean, why would they even want to get off?  And could they really?  What would they do if their legs weren't in perpetual motion?  What would being motionless actually feel like?  And seriously...who would ever want to be still??  All the readjusting to life that would have to be done if there were no "Millie" to support them.  Forget it!!  It was too painful to even fathom.  So they and "Millie" would continue on with their dance...to the music only they could hear.

Sound familiar?  Is this you I've just described?  What, or who, is your "Millie"?  Have you ever taken the time to even notice how dependent on "Millie" you've actually become?  Or are you desperate to end your unhealthy relationship with "Millie" and start all over again...only this time doing the one thing your heart and soul have yearned to do from the moment you took your first breath?

No matter what your answers are, the very first step to making any kind of change is awareness.  Take a look around at the people on the treadmills to the north, south, east and west of you.  Are they people you're okay with having their sweat get all over you, or are they folks who no longer have the same appreciation for their "Millie" as you do?  Either way, it's time to make a choice.  You can choose to be with "Millie" for as long as she'll have you, or you can use this moment to take one step toward the life you've always dreamed of living.  If you've been on "Millie" so long that you're not even sure you know how to dream, then stop what you're doing right now, close your eyes for at least 30 seconds and begin to imagine what one day of your life would look like if each and every detail were effortlessly crafted by your hand.  No, don't "do it later."  Don't wait!  Do it now!  "Millie" won't even have to know.  Dream.  Even if it's only for 30 seconds...DREAM!!  

Amazing, right?  You've had it in you all along!!  And now that you've begun to dream again, dream some more.  Dream about how you can move toward giving life to your dreams, how your relationship with your family feels now that "Millie" is no longer occupying all of your time, how joy infuses your day and just waking up each morning is what you look forward to...DREAM!!!  DREAM...and then step!  You already know how to move your feet..."Millie" taught you that.  So take the lessons you learned from your beloved "Millie" and repeat as necessary:  Dream...and then step.  Dream...and then step.  Dream...and then step...

Millie.For.Life!