Weigh-In 10/6/09 & Patrick Swayze’s Book

While I’m only down 0.3 pounds this week, I consider the week a success.  I was on plan every day, but Sunday.  Unfortunately, I fell pretty far off plan on Sunday – enough to have undone the work I did the rest of the week, but at least I didn’t gain!  And the real victory is in the fact that I got right back on plan yesterday and today.

I’m making progress.

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I’m currently reading Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi’s book, “The Time of My Life.”

I grew up watching Patrick Swayze movies.  I, along with all of the other girls in my class had the hugest crush on him.  I remember when Dirty Dancing came out on TV and talking about it with my friends: “oooh, are your parents gonna let you watch it?!?” I loved Ghost, and Road House, and so many of his other movies, too.  I knew that when this book came out, I would have to read it, and I’ve honestly had a hard time putting it down.

And I’m glad that I did read it.  He seems like a very interesting, decent person, very nice, insecure, funny (especially when describing his work on the movie “To Wong Foo…”), but also a man with his own personal demons.

While I already knew that he had a history in dance, that his wife was a dancer, and that his mom was a choreographer and owned a dance studio, I never knew how seriously he pursued his dance career.  I also learned quite a bit more that I never knew, including the fact that he had an alcohol problem.

He’s truly an icon to me and it was really sad reading the book while knowing that he’s now gone.  His words about fighting his cancer and refusing to give up are particularly powerful.  I was on my way home from Branson the day before my birthday when I learned the news of his death.  It was shocking.  It makes me sad to know that in just a few more pages, I will be done with the book.  It should have been twice as thick and written 50 years from now.

There were a few words in the book that I’ll take with me forever.  They may be specific to his situation, but can really be applied to so many of the obstacles in our own lives:

The other thing about rehab, and the reason so many people, including Hollywood celebrities, continue to have trouble afterward, is that it’s not a quick fix – it just starts the process.  It’s like a muscle you have to exercise every day.  Because if you really want to change, you have to want it every day.

When those you love die, the best you can do is honor their spirit for as long as you live.  You make a commitment that you’re going to take whatever lesson that person or animal was trying to teach you, and you make it true in your own life.  Their having been in your life changed you in some beneficial way, and making that commitment is the only way you can ease the pain of their absence.  But more than that, it’s a positive way to keep their spirit alive in the world, by keeping it alive in yourself.

There’s a line I say in Point Break that really rings true:  Fear causes hesitation, and hesitation causes your worst fears to come true.

And one that hits particularly close to home this week:

Everybody fails in life, but it’s when you can’t pick yourself up after failure that you’re in trouble.

If you are, or ever were, a Patrick Swayze fan, or if you just want to read about a person with a very public profile, but a very human story, I recommend you check this book out!  I think there’s a lot we can learn from him about dealing with pain and about fighting for our dreams.