Alphabet Soup

The alphabet is such a well known thing. We all go to kindergarten and bring home a paper each week with the letters that we have worked so hard to learn. Working in health care I have learned that alphabet soup is normal.  How about these to name a few: Dr., RN, EMT, PCT, RT.  Heck, those are only for the people who help to care for you.  What about the acronyms for diseases or the ones like ER.  Heck, I even work for a health care system that uses acronyms for two of our facilities in the Northern Region.  I am surrounded on a daily basis by a reminder that acronyms are so important on so many levels and having a true understanding of them can make all the difference.

So, can you imagine my frustration when I couldn't figure out what a recent Facebook post was about.  They talked about an NSV, something that I had no idea what it was.  So, I had to ask what in the world did it mean.  What was an NSV and why was it important to me?

NSV = Non-Scale Victory

Yes, what victories do I have on a daily basis that are not related to the number that the scale shows me.  I can honestly say that I had never thought about that.  However, I realized that NSV was a term for something that I am already focusing on.  The victories with my diabetes and my other health problems are such a focus for me and this journey.  How about my ability to buy clothes from a store I had only dreamed of someday visiting? I quickly realized, I really had only focused on those two victories.  What other victories have I been missing without realizing.  So, the day that I read that post, I decided that I was going to try to approach each day differently.

What victory has God provided for me that I have missed seeing because the scale was shining from a much higher post?

So, here are a few that I have picked up on the last few days.
~ I want to go workout... WANT being the key word.
~ I shoveled the driveway after a good snow and didn't feel winded or half dead after finishing
~ I have not had a soda since the day before surgery (thats a huge one for this Diet Mtn Dew addict)
~ I have a large 3 ring binder full of new recipes
~ My husband is enjoying the new recipes as much as I am.  There have been a few times I found "my" food gone because he liked it so much.
~ My daughter and I have a different relationship because I can move with her
~ We play just dance together and she is my work out buddy!

These are the few from the last couple days. Now, even with this new thought I am not immune from frustration.  When I last posted that I was at 28.4 pounds lost I thought for sure it would change soon.  However, I have been at that spot for quite some time now.  Just the other day I walked out of the room and told my husband to pray for me because I was getting SO frustrated with the same number appearing over and over again.  It was about 10 minutes later that a little thought popped into my mind... what victory am I having since the scale isn't moving.  You know what, I was amazed at how I could find so many that it changed my whole day.

I don't think that this will take away my desire to see what the scale says, but it certainly allows me another helpful tool to realize that this is about so much more than what a number says.  I have a routine, I get up every morning and go to the bathroom and weigh myself and then shower.  Every day. That probably won't change.  Just like it won't change that I get 60+ grams of protein a day and that I try for 60-70 ounces of fluid a day.  These things are just part of life now.  The scale will be part of that for me.  However, that doesn't mean it is my focus.  My focus is me.  What can I do each day to make me better today than the day before.  What NSV can I find as I round each corner of the day?

Today I spent much of the day doing things around the house, running to get the oil changed on my van, cooking for the upcoming days at work, playing Just Dance with Paityn.  As the day came to an end I realized that I hadn't thought about what today's NSV was.  Then I had a phone call with a dear friend.  She went on to tell me very poetically about being an inspiration to her.  She has seen the challenges and adversity that I overcame to do this procedure and. She ended by saying that I "kick ass."  We had a good laugh about how it went from poetic to that, but what she said meant the world to me. We have always been and always will be friends who can laugh with each other. However, this joke was real to me.  I have always said that any adversity that comes my way is worth every bit of it if I can help or inspire one person with how I handle it.  When you look at the many, many NSV that I have for my life now, I can't help be thankful and to know that I have been an inspiration to even one person is more than icing on my protein cake!  And yes, that is really something I am eating now!

So, my life is about the scale, but it is also about the NSV.  Maybe ask yourself what victory are you missing because you are focusing on something else.  I hope that you will all leave this blog with a thought of focusing not on the big huge picture, but on the small, sometimes hidden victories that are a blessing in disguise.