The Power of One

"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step." ---Martin Luther King

I watched the video below on YouTube the other night and I started thinking about the title. The title is “The Power of One”. I was thinking back to the many times in my life and those I know, where the power of one came into play. One is a very low number and yet possesses a very great power. It is the number at which nearly everything we do in life begins.

Marriage or partnership begins with a first date. Breathing life begins for all of us with a first day. Businesses begin with a grand opening or first day of operation. We encounter a new job with that uncomfortable first day. Savings accounts are begun with that first dollar. Debt is reduced with paying off that first installment. Forgiveness is begun with that first humbled day. Weight loss journeys are started with a first pound lost. The power of one is enormous.

Looking back on my own journey, I remember that first, painful and uncomfortable step on a treadmill. I remember the surgery and first day of recovery in a foreign land. I remember the hunger I felt when I weighed in at over 430+ pounds and tried crash dieting. I remember the first time I found a medical clinic with a scale that weighed over 400 pounds informing me of my actual weight. I remember the first day of birth of each of my children. I remember the first day after my divorce and sitting home alone for the first time in almost 23 years. I remember the first night looking into my children’s bedrooms at night, realizing that divorce had ripped them from their beds. I remember the first day of marriage to my beautiful wife Shelby. I remember the first day and first time of meeting in-laws, that are not judgmental or cruel and actually supported and encouraged me.

"Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation" ---Oscar Wilde

The power of one shapes and molds our lives. Positive or negative it is that first step in any process that begins to shape our lives. The amazing thing about the power of one is that you can take a negative and with one-step in a different direction, you can begin the process into positive territory. You can take a super-morbidly-obese person and with a single step, move towards a healthier full life. The power of one is simply cutting back 100 calories per day. That results in more than ten pounds you will not gain that year or perhaps actually lose those ten pounds that year.

The power of one has the ability to change your life and those around you for the better. I have experienced it and I have witnessed it. I have a wonderful friend that once wrote me that they could never lose weight, get healthy and may have to accept their situation. That friend now motivates me and excites me as I see on Facebook that they check in from a gym many times per week. I do not think it is necessary to explain the power of one to them. They found it, they used it and now they inspire with it.

"The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days." ---Voltaire

"Strength is the ability to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of those pieces." ---Judith Viorst

"Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets." ---Nido Qubein