What Julia Child taught me about my WLS process...

This was very thought-provoking for me, Nik; thanks for taking the time to share.  It's giving me something to chew on (no pun intended!) while I work my way up to surgery (on 9/13).  From my own perspective, the more I've put into this whole process, the more I've learned and the more prepared for surgery I feel I am.  I've been journaling (although not as much as I could), and hopefully this will help me focus on each step along the way.    

I especially like the point about our society being so results-driven.  It's true:  we're always in such a hurry to get where we're going, move on to the next phase, attain that all-important goal.  Those things, in and of themselves, are well and good.  Unfortunately, as you pointed out, we tend to miss out on everything in between.  When I turned about 55 or so (I'm soon to be 61), it occured to me that as I was rushing through my life, I was missing out on my life!  Once I realized that, I decided to try to slow down and start enjoying the ride.  Maybe this is something everyone goes through at my age, but I sure wish I'd figured it out a long time ago! 

I am all about the process. I've been in this "process" for 11 years. Renal failure, meds to cure it, gaining  a 100 pounds, working for a couple years to get surgery, losing enough weight to get on the transplant list ,and finally getting a kidney. The problem I have had lately is that I have been so compliant and so aware of the necessity of staying the course that now that I have the kidney I have not been in the process at all. I had physical things to get thorough and then my mom died. My process was waylaid.
I'm trying to get back in process/one day a time land. Some days are better than others. Some days I can't get out of bed.

Some trivia about Julia. She only ate at mealtime. If it wasn't mealtime she did not eat. She thought the process of snacking all day was deplorable. She also wanted to eat the very best food she could. Another lesson I've learned from her. She is my kitchen Goddess. I watched her every week growing up.

Deb T>

 I totally agree with you, Nic.  Life is a privilege but living it is an art.  I am all about the art.

I have taken French cooking lessons and it is a special process but once you get the hang of it you can vary it and adapt it to make your own creations.  

I didn't enjoy the process. I couldn't wait to be normal again and I just wanted to lose the weight. I'm still waiting to get to goal, LOL. It was my surgeon's goal and probably just not realistic for me. I regret all the anxiety and beating myself up and driving myself too hard. I wish I had slowed down and been more mindful. I'm more mindful now than I was then, and I don't know, maybe if I had been more mindful during the honeymoon, I'd be at goal. There's no way to know. But I'd do it differently if I could go back in time knowing what I know now. Then again, who doesn't say that about alot of things?