Thumbnails

This weeks’ Weight Watchers meeting topic was Believe It and Achieve It.  Would you agree that it’s easy easier to believe in yourself when things are going well? When you’re succeeding? But what happens when you get stuck? Or bored? Or lost? Or demotivated to continue the journey? What then?

A few many-many years ago, I was in college majoring in art education. Side bar #1: I later changed my major to business. One of my first college art classes was Drawing 101. I was totally psyched to take the class. I enthusiastically bought my supplies, my drawing pad, pencils, various smudging tools and erasers and was on my way. I had been drawing with a passion since, well, since I could hold a crayon.  This was going to be my class. I was going to do my thang! 

After some enlightening tutelage, my Professor, who I shall not name here, gave us our week 1 drawing assignment. It was a still life, a drawing of a few inanimate objects arranged in a composition of our choice. We had a week to complete the drawing. Piece of cake, I thought to myself. I’ve got this assignment in the bag! As we were walking out the door he shouted, make sure you do at least 8 thumbnail sketches.

I chuckled to myself as I walked out of the classroom. Thumbnails…snicker, chuckle, snort…he wants us to do thumbnails. What a waste of time. Thumbnail sketches are small rough sketches to help you design your final drawing. They are intended to help you explore composition, lighting, different techniques and so forth.

The following week I strolled into class with my final drawing. As you might guess, I never bothered to do the thumbnails. I already had my concept in my mind and that’s what I drew. My Professor asked us to hang up our drawings and he’d walk around for our critiques.  Side bar #2: If you’ve never been through a critique in front of a class of your peers, it’s a ball confidence buster.  And much to my chagrin he also asked us to post our thumbnails. Oh snap! I thought as I began to perspire and inwardly panic. I didn’t do the darned thumbnails. Fast forward to the end of the critique, and not only did he blast my work but I got my first “D” on an art project for not doing all of the work. My husband and I were dating at the time and I’m very sure he remembers my many calls to him lamenting about how unfair and terribly mean my Professor was.

When I was reflecting about my weight loss journey, and how I’ve been able to maintain and stay motivated for the long haul, the importance of thumbnails came to mind. So many times people, myself included, want to jump right to the after picture. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we woke up the next morning thin? Ah? Yeah!

Yet the thumbnails are where the magic happens. Our composition begins to change. We re-arrange and re-prioritize our days. We edit and re-edit what we eat until we discover a winning combination that leads to less of us on the scale. And if the first sketch isn’t quite right, we try again. We explore new ways to be active, alone and in groups until we find something that works.  We examine our habits and find new routines.  We squint our eyes and look in the mirror, searching for the person we already know is inside and ever so slowly we see ourselves in a new light.  We draw and we erase. Sometimes we crumple up the paper and sometimes we frame it.  And finally, after days, weeks, months, years of trial and error, we are faced with and end result that fills us with accomplishment and pride.  Suddenly we see a magnificent work of art that only God and hard work could design.   

What I’ve found after being a Weight Watchers member for 16 years is that my work is never done. And I don’t mean that in a “life’s a chore kind of way”. I mean it in a “life’s a gift kind of way”. When I’m bored, or tired, or demotivated or disenchanted, I take a few steps back from the canvas and find a new way to look at the old me. Maybe I need to change my composition or my  technique. Or maybe this time around, I don't need to change at all. Perhaps I just need to see myself in a different light.

Don’t be afraid to try. That’s why God made erasers.

Make the choice. Commit to the choice. Ask for help. Continue with courage.

Hugs and friendship,

Tara