The theme for this month’s editorial is Be Healthy. While there are a million things I could write about along the lines of health, given my ongoing weight loss journey, I’m going to write about happiness, instead. I thought long and hard about the topic of health and discovered it is multi-dimensional. Health doesn’t only mean you are not sick. It also isn’t as simple as your body working correctly. Health is a well-rounded phenomenon, which is the sum of being, and a major part of the equation is happiness.

If you follow me on Facebook, you probably know I workout because of the daily photo that I post of Dr. Tracy Blusewicz, my workout partner, and me. Sometimes I think it’s a bit much, but we both have people tell us regularly that we are an inspiration to them. For that alone, it is worth continuing to post.

My cell phone rang and I answered it. In the midst of my conversation, I hear my home telephone line ringing. I ignore it. I have caller ID; I will call them back. As soon as the telephone stops ringing, a call waiting beep comes through on my cell. I ignore it. I hear the home phone ring again. Although distracted, again, I ignore it. My cell call waiting alerts me again. As I say goodbye to the person I was attempting to have a phone conversation with, the home phone rings for the third time in three minutes. This time I answer, “Good Lord, what?”

Well, I am a mere 15 pounds away from reaching a goal that seemed impossible 18-months ago. What was the goal then? It was to get my act together, with the hopes that weight loss would pursue. I know that’s not a great goal, especially since it is so vague. The upside, though, the plan didn’t demand unrealistic expectations. For the first time, I didn’t begin by claiming something like: “I’m going to lose 42 pounds by next Friday. It simply started with going to bed earlier and getting mindful about what and how much I was eating.

Last year, poignant words about passion came flowing out of me as I wrote the Publisher’s note for February 2013. I had just come off of a weeklong trip of solitude and writing. In addition, I was enjoying newly found success in my weight-loss journey, as I fit into size-10 jeans, a huge improvement from the previous size-18s. Passion filled me. I was on-fire, and when I penned the words below, uncontainable passion oozed out with them.