Pretty much everyone reading the title of this entry will remember the movie we all watched as children and then we watched with our children and then we watched with our grandchildren: The Wizard Of Oz. The first television airing of The Wizard Of Oz was in 1956 on CBS and then it was shown only once annually sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. At some point, Turner bought the rights to the movie and it is shown on TNT.
As a child, I remember being scared at several of the scenes, most notably when the Wicked Witch had those flying monkeys doing her bidding. However, another fearful scene was when Dorothy, The Tin Man and the Straw Man set out to find the Wizard of Oz and were scared about traveling through the woods with filled with “Lions, Tigers and Bears”. They soon met a roaring lion that turned out to be the Cowardly Lion, who joined them on their journey. The actor that played the Cowardly Lion, Bert Lahr, eventually became better known for the commercial actor that couldn’t stop eating at one Lay’s potato chip.
Okay, this entry is not about all of you coming to see the Wizard Of Poz(ner) to help you with your weight control. Rather, I want to focus on the concept of “Fear”. Frequently, people with weight control issues will not move forward with efforts to shed the weight because of “FEAR OF”:
- Failure to lose the weight, as their past history is chock full of attempts and failures to shed the weight
- Giving up the food and alcohol that they have come to love and incorporate into their daily behaviors
- Not being able to socialize with their friends and colleagues that often meet up at bars, clubs and restaurants
- Spending money on weight control efforts as inflationary times are stretching everyone’s budgets
These fears listed above, and more, can lead to a sort of “paralysis” in that people will not move forward in their quest to shed the weight. The journey will not be attempted because of these fears.
That “yellow brick road” (i.e. the journey to long-term weight control) is not an easy one, there will be challenges along the way, setbacks, self-doubts and other complicating factors. However, try to summon your inner strength, shake off these fears and proceed down that “Yellow Brick Road” to a happier and healthier weight.
Enjoy a classic:
