Losing Big Time

So, I just finished watching The Biggest Loser. I will admit that this was somewhat of a sad episode – as in emotionally not as in the weigh in results. You see I got in late on watching The Biggest Loser – I don’t think I started watching until episode 2 or 3. I have been learning about the contestants each week as they talk about their lives and what (emotional) baggage they carry from home. As always I like to root for the underdogs and I was cheering for the Black Team. It brought a smile to my face when I saw them win a challenge.

Then they begin to show the gym scenes where everyone is working out. As always, there is Jillian Michaels beating the crap out of everyone. I watched as she pushed these people beyond the limits they had in their minds. I also watched her push people to deal with emotional problems that they had been carrying with them. I thought it was pretty profound of her in the way she got these people to break and talk about the deep issues they have in their life. As the show progressed and several contestants shared about their past – deal with drug addicted mothers and constantly searching for their love, being “the fat girl” all their life and learning to break past that feeling, and losing your entire family at the hands of a wreck-less driver…

I felt slightly put in my place after that. Sure, I complain about things and I think I’ve had some honest adversity in life but these people have experienced life much harder than I know. It gave me some perspective.

As my friend Cheryl put it on her blog, “I need to change my perspective and focus on what really matters in life.”

I think this is a valuable lesson we should all think about. How much stuff do we complain about in life and act as if the world is going to end when in all reality there are people living each day of their life with so much tragedy and so many obstacles to overcome that we’re bless enough to not have to deal with.

Just my $0.02,
- John