Taking Aim at Weight

When I was about 13 years old, my dad taught me how to shoot a gun. He was an avid hunter and gun collector who even did his own reloading. It was what he poured his spare time into and where he found joy. As soon as he determined that I was old enough, my dad and I drove to the shooting range at the conservation club where he was a member and the lesson began.

After stapling the target to a piece of wood that backed up to a large mound of packed dirt, by father commenced my lesson on gun safety. Always keep the safety on until immediately before you are going to shoot. Never, ever point a gun—loaded or unloaded—at anyone or anything. Treat every gun like a loaded gun.

When he determined that I understood these and other crucial instructions, my dad finally handed me the gun. I could feel its power immediately. I gently raised it to my shoulder and tried to find the target, but my upper body strength was poor and the more I attempted to hold the gun steady, the more it swayed. My dad then instructed me to kneel down. With one knee on the ground and the other raised to use as a brace for my arm, I was able to hold the gun steady. This was much better.

When I felt comfortable with the gun butted up tightly against my right shoulder and had the target in sight, my dad told me to turn off the safety. Then he told me to breathe in, hold my breath, and gently squeeze the trigger. The .22 caliber rifle gave off a mild popping sound at the same time that I felt the barrel of the gun recoil into my right shoulder. I hit the target—nowhere near the bull’s-eye—but I hit it. I instantly wanted to do it again. And again. I loved the singular focus of shooting a gun; the challenge of one person, one bullet, and one target. The sheer concentration it took to coordinate the actions: eyes, breath, focus, squeeze.

I bring this up because this is precisely how I go about losing weight. I zero in on my target, inhale, focus, and squeeze the trigger which, in the case of shedding excess pounds, is taking the laser-like focus of shooting a gun and aiming at nothing but my target weight until I hit that bull’s-eye. I am not always successful. Sometimes my aim is off or I close my eyes and lose sight of the target. But when I am truly focused, I can maintain my aim by closing my eyes to temptation, breathing through the triggers of emotional eating, and focusing on that target weight. Then I gently squeeze the trigger and begin. At that point, like the bullet piercing the air toward the bulls-eye, I am unstoppable.