I remember the first time. I had just graduated from college. My wife and I headed down to New Orleans. There it was. We could see it from a long way out. As we pulled up to the port we were awestruck. The cruise ship was one of the biggest things I had ever seen.

I remember the walk up to the ship. It was like going up levels in a massive hotel. Everyone was friendly and ready to make money off of me. We weren’t onboard for more than a few minutes when a waiter had already brought us drinks. I had never experienced anything like it.

We were both 23 on that trip and had never been too far away from Oklahoma. That changed after a choppy ride down the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico. We work up the next morning and I looked out the window. There was only water as far as my eyes could see. It was the freakiest and coolest thing all at the same time.

We ended up in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel on that trip. It was amazing and definitely got us hooked. It was the most awesome sense of freedom being out on the water.

My favorite spot on the ship was in the very front as late in the evening as I could get there. It was usually quiet by that time and I could feel the ocean air in my face and see all the stars up above.

That is what cruise ships have come to mean to me. Freedom.

It is day 38. Yes! I made it. Ok, celebration is over. Back to work.

The good news is, I am seeing positive changes in this 100 Day Strong journey. I have much more willpower than I thought I did. My waistline is slimming down and the scale is not being as ugly to me. As of this morning, I am down 15 pounds in 38 days! Woot! Woot!

I am keeping the post short and sweet today. I have a goal. I will make it 100 Days Strong on my seven part plan. I know there will be trying times, but 38 days in and I am still here.

Ok. I am still celebrating. No, really…back to work!

#100DaysStrong

Every morning he sits in the same place. He drinks the same cup of coffee, black with two sugars. It is a quiet start to every day, but one that he is hesitant to miss. He knows they will only ever be friends, but still there he sits in the same cafe where she works. She knows how he feels, but is unmoved. He deep feelings for her are unrequited.

The scene above is fictional, but the feelings are all too true? Have you ever felt this way? You adore someone that hardly notices you. You profess love for someone that can not say the same. You are full of emotion and yet, it all sits inside. It is heartbreaking. What you feel for someone is not returned in kind.

Just to be clear, what does this word mean?

Unrequited – (of a feeling, especially love) not returned or rewarded.

I have felt this way before. There have been potential friendships in the past where I invested a lot of energy, but the energy was not returned. I have shared my enthusiasm for ideas, and the ideas fell flat. I have expressed romantic interest, only to have that interest turned away. I know what unrequited feels like.

It can be debilitating. If we let it crush us, it can keep us down. We start to see the lack of reciprocation as a personal short coming. The fact that what you are offering is not return can would deeply. But…

If we look at this a different way I think we would discover a few things:

1. If I love someone, what I give does not have to be returned for me to love them. Real love doesn’t work that way. One of my favorite scriptures says it this way:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT

2. If someone does not return what you give, it is just a chance to give that to someone else. If I offer friendship to someone and they don’t return it, I have done my part. Sure, it stings, but I still have that friendship to offer another.

3. I refuse to let my worth be determined by a rejection. Nope. Not going to happen that way. My worth is defined by who God says I am. I am His child. I have worth because He loves me. Jesus came to Earth so we could have life with God. I will let that define my worth.

I look back and I see things clearer. I see those unrequited times. In many ways I am thankful for them. They may have hurt in the moment, but I like who I am and where I am. Many of those experiences helped push me along the way.

I have lived in Texas for six years now. I am proud of this. My community is a great place to live. We know our way around now, which is a feat all in itself. We have found a church we love and are doing our best to get involved. We love where we live.

I am also proud that we have made it six years for a much different reason…the weather. Yes. You read that right. We have survived six years of heat, more heat, extreme cold, rain, heat, more heat, winds, heat, and you guessed it…more heat.

Truth be told, I was used to most of this as I lived in Oklahoma for 38 years before this. The only thing I haven’t seen as much down here in Texas is Tornados. Oklahoma can keep those.

I love the weather down here. It is temperate most of the year. Summers are brutal, but the rest of the year is usually very bearable. There are times when you have to dress in a coat in the morning and are in shorts by the afternoon. It is weird, but you get used to it.

Why a post about the weather? To me it is another reminder that we get to make choices. Do I have to live somewhere that I don’t want to? No, I don’t. I can make plans to move. If I haven’t made plans to move, I am by default making plans to live where I am. I recognize it as a choice that I have made. That gives me control over my attitude and my outlook.

This is a critical part of being content. I have the power to choose. Even the power to choose to enjoy the heat, because I love where I live and the heat is just part of it.

Tomorrow is the start of a new week in my journey. Today is day 35.

I want to pause for a moment and be satisfied, I have done this successfully for five weeks. After struggling for months and years to gain consistency in this area of my life, this just feels good. I only want to pause for a moment though. The moment is now over.

As I get into this next week, I am very close to being down 15 pounds since I started. I want to achieve that goal this week. These incremental wins are becoming very important. They make whatever perceived loss (not getting the food I want, exercising more than I am used to, etc.), much more bearable.

I started with seven core goals :

1. Take a daily photo to show progress.

2. Exercise daily

3. Track my food and my calories.

4. Drink 100 oz of water per day.

5. Read or listen to a chapter of a book every day.

6. Encourage someone/anyone every day.

7. Write down my thoughts daily.

I have achieved all of these for 35 days in a row. Let’s go for 36. 100 Days Strong, here we come.