Made for More: Purpose as Medicine
Recovery doesn't stick without a reason bigger than the scale. Why knowing you were made for more is the foundation that holds when motivation runs out.
Motivation is a liar. It shows up loud on January 1st and it's gone by the second week. If your change is built on motivation, it falls apart the first hard day. You need something deeper underneath it. You need a why.
For me, that why is this: I believe I was made on purpose, for a purpose. I'm not just a clump of cells that happened to show up. There's thought behind my existence, and behind yours. That belief is the floor everything else stands on.
You are not what you weigh
For most of my life I let other people, and my own head, tell me who I was. The fat kid. The failure. The lost cause. I answered to all of those names. The turning point wasn't a diet. It was realizing those names weren't my identity.
You are not what others have called you. You are not the number on the scale or the worst thing you've done. Worth comes first; the work comes second. When you get that order right, you stop trying to earn your value by losing weight, and you start taking care of yourself because you already have value worth protecting.
Purpose carries you when motivation can't
Here's what I've seen, in my own life and in the people I coach. When the only goal is "lose 30 pounds," you gain it right back, because nothing underneath you changed. But when you're anchored in a purpose bigger than the scale, being here for your kids, honoring the body you were given, becoming the person you were made to be, you keep going on the days motivation doesn't show up.
Your body is a gift. Treat it like one. Not out of shame, and not to perform for anybody, but because it was given to you on purpose, and so were you.
You were made for more than the prison you've been living in. Start there, and the work finally has somewhere true to stand.
This article shares Justin's personal experience and faith perspective and is for encouragement and education only. It is not medical advice. See our Health Disclaimer.