Over the recent New Year’s holiday, I was visiting some friends when a few of the group decided we should play cards. I overheard one lady say she did not want to be partnered with me because I was too intense. So, when I was asked to participate, I declined. It was not that I was being unsociable. I love playing cards, love the fellowship of the table and love to play the hand dealt me to the best of my ability—win or lose. However, I chose not to play because my best efforts were misinterpreted. I believe that wherever I am, whatever I am doing and with whomever I am, I should give the best that I have. While some seem to interpret this as being too intense, should I settle for less than the best?

How often do we give our best? What percentage of the time we are awake do we give the best we have to offer? And what does “giving my “best” actually mean? Someone once suggested that if you gave your best in every activity of your life, you would become too intense and stressed out, ultimately driving everyone around you crazy. Does giving your best mean working 18-hour days, giving up rest and eating poorly? To me, giving your best means two things: setting high standards and striving to live up to those standards regardless of circumstances. Why? Because there is a simple law of life: our rewards in life will always be in direct proportion to what we give.

I am particularly thinking about this as our chapter has our first meeting of this wonderful new year today. I believe I will ask everyone who makes it in through the sub-zero temperatures and the snow how they feel about giving our best efforts to helping and supporting each other’s weight loss journey and how each one feels about making the best use of the 365 pages that will comprise their new book of years titled 2014. I am excited to hear the answers as this journey gets underway! Our rewards in good health, higher self esteem and full participation in life is in direct proportion to what we will support and encourage in every other member of our group at each meeting. My fellow members and I deserve our best efforts on behalf of ourselves and each other.

I encourage you to consider how often you give your best. Life will always be less than it can be when we don’t give our best. When in an airplane, you want the pilot to do the best to fly safely. When in the operating room, you want the surgeon to do the very best to repair your body. In truth, there has never been, and never will be, a good reason for not giving the best we have to offer.

I pledge to support your best efforts and give my best in achieving my own goals as well. Friendship is a wonderful gift to bring into play when aiming at a shared goal…whether at a card table or in life each day.

I want the best for you—and for me—this year, my friends!

I Care, Barb