The picture of me walking with Breezy, the Basset Hound, is a good one for my journey toward Wellness and letting the Becomers come online. There has been much written about wellness in the last few years. It is a subject that I will look at quite often here on this blog and in my wellness newsletter. I will also host an open forum for those who become part of the Becomers closed groups here online and on Facebook. The definition of wellness that I like the best is this one from comes from the National Wellness Institute it focuses on the “Six Dimensions of Wellness.” According to the institute, “Wellness is an active process through which people become aware of, and make choices toward, a more successful existence.”
On my journey, I have considered myself to be in relatively good shape at times in the area of wellness. That is not where I found myself in 2014. I was floundering with direction and many things had happened to create the situation. The majority of those things were self-imposed. I had resigned from a life that I had valued for almost 40 years. I started my career as a teacher in 1973 and in February of 2014 I resigned my position as a school superintendent. I moved back to Fargo, ND in hopes that I would find my way. Physically I was weighed 373 pounds and I had lost weight when that measure took place in December of 2014. I could barely walk to the entrance of Lindenwood Park and back to my place without being terribly winded and tired. I was a train wreck as far as my physical wellness. My diet was terrible. Next recognized hurdle was not having many social contacts and or active relationships of any kind. The woman who I believed would be my side left the night of February 4, 2014, and I saw her one more time a few days later for a short period… she walked out of my life. I had my family connections in Fargo and that was a good thing since they helped me significantly from February to the start of 2015. They still are a very big part of my life. From an intellectual point of view, I had not read a book for at least a year and I had not read anything that was going to grow me. I had a number of issues that demanded clear thinking and an approach to resolving those problems. Spiritually I was totally disconnected from any church and had been since I had moved out of the house in 2005. I felt deserted by my church and did not know anyone who really cared. I was floundering. I still believed and I still prayed and I hoped for a change to take place in a positive way. That prayer has been answered in many, many ways. Emotionally I knew that I needed to get back on the path… to challenge myself to grow and move forward. I had started to listen to Zig Ziglar Podcasts and that was a boost. Then I heard a podcast where the person being interviewed was Hal Elrod, the author of “The Miracle Morning…”
