I was impatient for spring and then this happens. But isn’t it pretty?

Impatience is creeping into my weight-loss campaign, too. I have four pounds to go. This may not sound like much but it might take two months to get there.

The focus of my impatience is not my diet. I feel like I could keep eating this way indefinitely. Rather, it is about clothes. My wearable wardrobe is shrinking with my body: three pairs of pants, none of them dressy, and a few of my latest sweaters. The rest is baggy. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to buy some new clothes but that would defeat several of my intentions.

The first was not to buy anything new until I reached my goal weight. I have had the experience of buying things that I thought would fit after I lost another pound or two–and then I didn’t lose the weight. This time, no wishful shopping.

The other intention was not to make this weight loss about appearance. It wasn’t at first. It was about health in the long term and energy in the immediate, as an indicator of health and vitality. And it is working. My energy is up. In a week I walk 10 to 15 miles and do several hours of yoga and other exercises. I sleep well and feel great.

By now, however, I am getting used to this new vitality. Ho-hum. So what else can this new body do? The next thing is fitting it into some new clothes. I am impatient to get to this next thing.

Impatience is unkind. Impatience lives in the future and dismisses the present. Impatience is in a hurry. Impatience is ungrateful. Impatience sometimes says what the heck and sometimes tries to muscle through.

It is not impatience that has got me thus far on this matter or on any other. Rather, I have come to a profound respect for the rhythms and pace of my own body and spirit. I know both the joy of discipline and the limits of willpower. I have come to depend less on treating myself to special rewards and more on recognizing the rewards that are already there. The thing I know to do is to keep focused on the present.

A snowy day is no good for shopping anyhow. But it is good for purging closets. Here are my baggy clothes, ready to bag up for Goodwill. Bye-bye XL! My closet is ready for those new clothes and I am ready for spring. All in good time.