There Will Be Blood.

Today I went to the hospital for 3 different appointments.  No worries... just had to do some routine maintenance work. 

1. Learned about the importance of flossing from my dentist.  This is the umpteenth time that I have received this lesson.  It's a habit that always seems to escape me, but this may be when it will finally stick (I tell myself this every time I walk out of the dentist's office).
2. Got updated on my immunizations.  Eat it, seasonal flu! 
3. Went to the lab to do a little blood work.  They took what seemed like a lot of blood... 6 vials (insert random comment about vampires).  They're testing my cholesterol levels, so I had to fast for about 10 hours prior.

The reason for telling you all of this is not to bore you with mundane details about my life, but to focus on what I had to "endure" for my last appointment.  Giving up something like eating for almost half of a day sounds drastic (okay... not that drastic), but when you consider how I went about it, it was really easy to do.  My plan was simple;  I would sleep for most of the time and then spend the rest drinking water to quell hunger pangs.  It was a small "sacrifice" for a big return... in this case, a test to help assess my health.

Truth of the matter is that I never felt that hungry.  I didn't feel deprived;  I didn't feel like I was missing out on something.  And when I did finally get a chance to eat, I only wanted half of a sandwich.  And no Mom, I am not developing a food disorder.

My point is that when we get past the want-it-nows of a day-to-day lifestyle and truly look at the big picture, the things that we give up to get to where we want to be do not become that big of a deal.  Whatever it is that you want to do (buy a house, travel the world, take pictures of dogs wearing tutus, etc.), if you really value that want, sacrifices won't feel like sacrifices.  And when you finally get that opportunity to take back what you had initially given up, usually you find out that you didn't need that much of whatever you gave up anyway.