My Journey To Happiness

My name is Sara Bown and I live in New Brunswick Canada. I have been married to a man I adore and consider my best friend for 13 years and we are blessed with two sons who are 6 & 10. Being a proud mother, I have so many proud moments. Like the seasons change, I think we have beautiful proud moments in life that touch our hearts at different times that leave a lasting, beautiful memory that we can look back on with pride over the years.

Having so many of these etched in my heart, it was hard coming up with my proudest moment but I decided to go with this one ……..

Only months ago, 24, to be exact, I was living a life that I desperately wanted to change. I had reached a place were emotional eating had me in the 280 lbs range – Yes, seeing this on the scale was devastating but the real sad story here, is how it changed who I was as a person and how it altered how I loved, shared and moved forward in the world. Once a young person who loved to sing and be in front of people, I found myself wanting to hide, not be seen and not share any of my thoughts with anyone who was outside the direct circle of people I trusted. It hit me hard, seeing I was in the 280′s and that if I didn’t make the needed changes, I may die. I may die having lived a held back life, my entire adult life. If I didn’t die, I may have wasted years I had with my little boys and time with my husband. Time flies so fast and before we know it, a year has gone by.. and I was not willing to live in regret any longer. It’s one thing to feel this but when you have been in a certain place for years, this change does not come easy, it’s hard, scary and can be uncomfortable but I also knew, that I had so much more inside to share, with not only my family but with the world. I also felt I had a purpose and it was time to find out what is was and to find / live my authentic life.

So, I moved forward, worked hard, lost pounds but more importantly, I gained self, self love & self belief. I had started to change my life in November 2010 and at the very end of July ( the last week of July 2011) I decided I was going to run a 5k…I have since run a half marathon but at that time, a 5k was soooo long. I had a hard time walking a mile just months before and now I was going run a 5k and not only that, I had to run it with people watching..SCARY !! I arrived to the start line August 1st 2011 feeling empowered and scared, this was like nothing I have EVER done in my life, I did not ever have an athletic bone in my body so this felt so amazing because it was so hard and out of my comfort zone, it took such courage and knowing I had the courage made me smile. My PROUDEST MOMENT was arriving at the finish line and seeing my family. My husband, sons, mom, dad, and sister were there. They were amazed that I signed up for this and the pride was glowing from them, words did not need to be exchanged. The looks on my boys faces when they saw me coming and when they saw my medal are looks I will forever carry in my heart. In all the things I have given and will give as a mother I think this moment will always be one of the best things I could have given them. I showed them with not words but yet actions they we can achieve anything in life that we put hard work, dedication and determination into. My father cried he was so proud and no matter where I continue to go, new races I sign up for, new goals I reach and dreams I achieve, this proud moment is one I can always turn to for strength as I move forward and I plan to NEVER stop moving forward