Day 28: Meat Puppets

I'm a child of the '90s. My heyday was the age of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and especially Nirvana. I was a big Nirvana fan. I did the whole flannel/wallet on a chain/long unruly hair thing. I even dyed my hair fuscia for a while (you can see the picture on my Facebook page, but I'll spare you the image here; suffice it to say, I looked awesome). I also fancied myself pretty deep at the time, and I ate up the nonsensical lyrics of the grunge scene.

What does this have to do with my health journey, you ask? Well, I'll tell you. There was a band at that time called the Meat Puppets. I was never a fan myself, but they had a song called "Plateau" that is relevant for today's discussion, and which was covered memorably by Kurt and the boys in their fantastic appearance on MTV's "Unplugged."

Yes, as you may have guessed, I'm on a bit of a plateau. This week I gained 0.01 Jesses. It's not wholly unexpected, as it often happens, when I embark on an plan to lose weight, that I gain around the three- to four-week mark. I guess that's the way it goes. It's rather annoying, though, since I fastidiously tracked what I ate this week, and I ate good stuff (including some rather good homemade vegetarian soups), and I worked out at least four times.

So in an effort to salve my bruised ego, I will draw some inspiration by interpreting the Meat Puppets' memorable anthem. So here we go.

"Many a hand has scaled the grand old face of the plateau / Some belong to strangers, some to folks you know"

You know what? Lots of people have been in this place before. We're all making an effort to better ourselves, and we all end up here sooner or later. I'm in good company.

"Holy Ghosts and talk show hosts are planted in the sand / To beautify the foothills and shake the many hands"

Hm ... I guess, you'll meet a lot of people on the journey. Along the way, you might start feeling so good that you'll join some of those people in trying new things, like community service or volunteering for a political campaign.

"Nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop and an illustrated book about birds"

Striving toward a goal is always a chance to clean up ourselves, and our lives — and you just might learn something while you're at it.

"You see a lot up there, but don't be scared / Who needs action when you've got words?"

Change can be scary! Your vantage point will be completely different, because you'll be different. And you'll be wiser, apt to look and consider before you leap.

Thanks, Meat Puppets. You gave me a deep-sounding, bizarre song to pretend to play on my guitar while scaring girls. And now I've learned a little about myself.