The contestants returned to the Coliseum for the next competition. No, not the Flavian Amphitheater of Rome where gladiatorial contest and public spectacles took place.
The location was the Los Angeles Coliseum. Also used for Season 16 of The Biggest Loser, an American competition reality show. The show features overweight contestants competing to win a cash prize. The winner is determined by who loses the highest percentage of weight compared to their starting weight.
For Episode 17, Alison Sweeney announced to the final four contestants, “It’s time to put the weight you’ve lost, back on for the next contest.” Sonya picked up 114 pounds, Woody carried 124 pounds, Toma loaded up with 134 pounds, and Rob strapped on 168 pounds of weights.
The race included 16 stops representing the 16 weeks of their journey. The contestants ran up and down the Colosseum steps. At each stop, they dropped the weights equivalent to what they had lost each week. Whoever finished first received a $5,000 cash prize and a coveted one-pound advantage at the weigh-in.
An unnecessary burden
The Story we write has a beginning, middle, and end. The Journey or how well you write your Story involves how you respond to the past, the present, and the future.
We know the Future is uncertain. The Future is about a promise, offering hope, and includes so many opportunities, possibilities, and significance. But, tomorrow is not promised.
The Past is history. As a writer, you can edit the Story for learning purposes, but you cannot change the event. However, creating space to reflect on the truth in the Story is vital to a successful life.
The Present is it. Life brings challenges. Pick your reality: broken trust, unfulfilled expectations, failure, difficult people, financial loss, poor health, dysfunctional workplace or family. On and on and on the list of reality goes. How well you live in the present determines whether you get “there” and achieve future success or not. When life’s not fair, be sure to ask the right question.
So, what is the unnecessary burden? What threatens your engagement, productivity, joy and peace, and future success? Living in the Past. Can you imagine pro rock climber and mountain athlete, Emily Harrington, hauling a backpack of rocks up Yosemite’s El Capitan?
Here’s the deal, what you believe about the past creates your emotion today, positive or negative, fear-based or love-based. Here’s the equation:
Event + Belief = Emotion
Living with bitterness, anger, frustration, depression, envy, or lack of forgiveness regarding the Past is like loading 134 pounds of weight and running the Colosseum steps. Let it go.
As Chuck Swindoll writes,
We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you…we are in charge of our attitudes.
Flashback
At the Colosseum, the players immediately flashed back to what it felt like to be at their original weights. The challenge was both an emotional and physical undertaking.
Each contestant started slow, which is understandable considering the weight strapped to his/her body. The players flashed back to what it felt like to be at their original weights, making the challenge an emotional and physical undertaking.
While Rob and Woody fall behind, Sonya and Toma were neck and neck. Toma crossed the finish line first; burden lifted and victorious. He went on to win the Finale weigh-in. HIs starting weight was 336 pounds, he lost 171 pounds that represented a 40.89% loss. And yes, Toma won the title of “Biggest Loser” and the, $250,000 cash prize.
Creating space for reflection
Are you writing the Story you want to tell?
What weight, from your past, have you strapped on to carry?
What beliefs do you have regarding what happened?
What if you change your beliefs? How might that help you move forward and live in the moment with those around you?
Here’s to your freedom to climb,
Steve
Image Credit: tvequals
