The Part of You that Chooses

Another edition of Memory Monday...
"Every time you make a choice you are turning into the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before."

I first read this quote from C.S. Lewis when I was reading his book "Mere Christianity" with my small group Bible study last winter.   Here Lewis is talking about how the sum of the many choices we make in our lives add up and slowly change us into who we are.

Not to oversimplyfy what Lewis was trying to say, but this really struck home with me when applying it to my weight loss efforts.  I'm often conflicted by the choices I have to make in order to be healthy.  Do I go for my scheduled run today or do I go to the campus center for lunch?  Do I eat dinner out with my friends tonight or eat the healthy meal that I have cooked?  Do I portion out the amount of tortilla chips I should eat, or do I take the whole bag with me to the couch and eat until I'm done?

Applying Lewis' quote made a lot of sense to me in light of these conflicts.  Each choice I make throughout the day is changing me. It's either changing me into a healthier person or it's changing me into a not so healthy person. If I make a lot of healthy choices, they add up to weight loss and a healthier life.  A lot of times you think of a bad choice as just a mistake, but when a lot of bad choices add up, they can change who you are.

This is another quote that stuck with me.  I put it on note cards and pinned one to the wall of my cubicle and put another on the wall of my bedroom so I would see them often.