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<center>[Source](https://pixabay.com/en/people-travelers-together-standing-3217855/)</center>
 
 
## It’s not the destination, but the journey that matters.
How many times have you seen this quote printed somewhere or heard it said? If you’re like me, you’ve seen it and heard it many times.
 
***I wonder, though, what does it mean to you?***
 
For me, this quote has always suggested that it doesn’t matter whether you reach your destination or achieve your goals or not. To me, this quote has always suggested that the experiences you have along the way to your destination, the things you learn and the ups and downs that you have as you move toward your goals are what actually matter.
 
Of course, if you quit heading toward your destination, or if you give up on your goals, that which matters the most, your journey, stops. So, having destinations and goals are an important part of finding and experiencing the things in life that really matter. At least, that is what this quote seems to suggest.
 
I’ve always liked this quote and have taken it to heart many times. I believe that reaching destinations and achieving goals is secondary to the journey that takes people to these things. Until recently, however, I had always thought part of what this quote was suggesting was that actually reaching our destinations and achieving our goals is not important. I had always thought that the purpose of destinations and goals was just to motivate people to begin taking journeys.
 
Now, I am beginning to see things a little differently. With goals like losing weight and saving money, quitting smoking and learning a second language, etc. where do we end up if we don’t see our journeys through to their completion? If we don’t use the knowledge that we have gained from our journey to help us get to where we are going and/or to achieve our goals, have we really learned anything at all?
 
When I began trying to lose weight eleven weeks ago through exercise alone, I thought long and hard about what the best way to ensure that I exercised everyday would be. I came to the conclusion that exercising first thing in the morning was best for me, and envisioned myself developing the habit of getting out of bed at 5:00, going downstairs, and exercising hard for at least 10 minutes everyday before doing anything else.
 
I tried doing this. And for the first four weeks or so, I did it quite well. It wasn’t easy, but I kept pushing myself to pursue this path with the idea that, as I developed the habit of exercising early in the morning, it would get easier and easier to do.
 
It hasn’t. Not even a little. In fact, I have been finding that the more I exercise (meaning the longer my workouts are), the harder it is to get up as early in the morning as I intend to.
 
What has happened, though, is that over the course of these eleven weeks, exercise has become a priority in my daily life. If I don’t exercise first thing in the morning like I intend to, I have found myself finding ways to ask for the time I need to exercise later in the afternoon or evening. Sometimes this means that I exercise while I’m at work. Sometimes it means that I exercise with my children in the early evening. Sometimes it means that I exercise at night after everyone else in my house has gone to bed. In other words, contrary to my initial plan and the expectations I originally had, I have found ways to exercise regularly and I have found ways to adapt my schedule to my new exercise needs.
 
I haven’t made much progress on the road to losing weight yet, but keeping that goal firmly in front of me, the road ahead of me seems full of valuable lessons that I have yet to learn and important knowledge that I have yet to acquire.
 
How about you, where are you on the path to your destinations and goals, and what have you learned so far?
 
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## <center>This Week’s Accountability Report</center>
 
### Exercise:
Five out of seven days.
 
### Weight:
Despite extending the lengths of most of my workouts this week, my weight has shown no change beyond its typical fluctuations. Last Thursday morning I weighed 81.3 kg, and this morning I weighed 81.4 kg.
 
### Looking Back/Looking Forward
 
This past week I had guests from America visit me for three days. Entertaining them led to two missed days of exercise and a lot of eating and drinking. A national holiday and a birthday party after their visit didn’t help me cut calories or eat any less than I usually do. I am finding that adjusting my diet is probably going to be an important part of figuring out how to lose weight. I’m not yet sure what the best way to go about making changes to my diet is, but using some of the great suggestions that many people here on Steemit have given me, I’m ready to begin experimenting.
 
Beginning this week, I am going to make two very small changes. First, I am going to reduce my daily granola serving for breakfast by half. Second, I am going to increase my daily water intake. Since I don't currently know how much water I drink per day, I am going to start by trying to record this. Additionally, I may talk to my wife about reducing my dinner portions by a little. We’ll see.