[CHANGES] Eliminating Debt

[Sandra Ahten]

Hello everyone,

Rose works in a law firm that represented a man in a dispute with his 
landlord. She explains that the man had a $378 account to settle with them 
when it was all said and done. She and the rest of the staff got a good 
laugh when the first week he came in, opened his wallet and pulled out four 
crumpled dollar bills. They gave him a receipt and pretty much wrote the 
$374 balance off. They were equally amused when the next week he came in and 
paid $2 toward his account. They saw him every week for a little over a 
year. But he’s not a punch line anymore -- he’s a role model. Sometimes he 
paid as much as $10, some weeks as little as $2. Occasionally, but not often 
he would skip a week altogether. But now he’s free and clear.

Rose shows up at our “Changes” group every week. She is practicing a 
reasonable diet. She is losing weight. Sometimes one pound. Sometimes two. 
Occasionally she’s on vacation and doesn’t show and occasionally her weight 
goes up. But like the law firm client, who became her model, she’s on a 
steady course.

Rose’s diet is fairly simple. She eats a moderate breakfast that is high in 
protein. She enjoys a big salad for lunch, often with nuts, cheese and fruit 
and a few crackers or croutons. For dinner she has protein and as many 
vegetables as she wants. She avoids what she calls “white food” with her 
evening meal. She doesn’t eat late at night. The group hears wonderful 
examples of her constantly steady increase in exercise and activity.

Like everyone, Rose has her challenges as she adopts this new way of eating. 
How to handle the wedding dinner? What to do when she and her partner spend 
the weekend at her friends resort. What about the fair? Rose finds 
strategies to cope with each occasion. There is no throwing up her hands. 
There is no throwing in the towel, *even* when she regrets her choices.

How can you make a payment this week? How did the law firm client come up 
with two dollars? What can you do to lose a pound? Can you stop eating ice 
cream out of the carton? Can you change your breakfast? Bring your lunch 
instead of eating out? Ask yourself, "What am I willing to do? When am I 
willing to do it and what is my plan for the rest of the time?" Write the 
possibilities down. The answer is not in some prescribed diet. The answer is 
within you.

If you need support in finding your steady course, please consider joining a 
“Changes” group. We have two spots left in the Tuesday 10am group, one in 
Tuesday 5pm, and two in Saturday 9am. Call or email if you want details.

Sandra
© 2004 Sandra Ahten

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