Day 35

I tend to visualize negative images of myself for continued motivation. It keeps me focused when I click through memories of my body at its worst. As the horrid images click by like a mental PowerPoint, I see photos when my face was bloated or my black dress pants barely covered my backside. I've even taped embarrassing pictures of myself on the fridge; a photo of me, slumped over a picnic table, eating corn on the cob, a back shot in a bathing suit, photographs so repulsing, they act like appetite suppressants. Or do they?
Now, I want to start visualizing what I will look like, not what I have looked like. Alluring, flattering images are certainly more compelling and appealing. Seeing ourselves as we want to be seen, as you want others to see you. Picture yourself in hip, trendy clothes and start tossing out the stuff you bought in college or on sale, the safe stuff, the stuff that makes you look, and feel, frumpy.
Envision your hair in a new style (lose the scraggly ponytail and the bobby pins). Lose the mousy browns and faded blonds. Conjure images of you, in stylish clothes and with a stylish look. Keep it positive.
The "I'll get around to getting my act together" is over, getting your act together happens now. Grab a Hefty bag and take the first step: hit your closet and pitch all the back up stuff. The baggy pants, dumpy skirts, Dr. Scholl shoes. Be what you have always envisioned yourself to be. It's scary to throw away, what you think are, perfectly good clothes, but if you haven't fit in or worn them in a year, what makes you think, that once you've shed eighty sticks of butter, you'll want to wear them then? Get them out of the house. They clutter up your mental and physical space and bind you to a past that is not a part of you anymore. Start buying clothes that say who YOU really are and aspire to be. Make the image and the appearance one.