First off, thank you everyone for writing to me and expressing how you feel.  The people who won weren’t necessarily picked because they had the “best” essay. Just as those who didn’t win lost because theirs weren’t good enough. I picked based on who, at this time, I feel would benefit most from Tom’s book and the way The Body Fat Solution was written.  With that said, the winners are…

Marcia

and

Sean

I left out your emails/last names to protect your identity, but please feel free to post comments here if you desire. You should get an email in a few minutes asking for your address. If you did not get one then PLEASE contact me through the contact form with your home or work address to receive your book.

I hope the book inspires you, and helps you make things click in way that might have not before.

Here are the winning essays.

Marcia’s Essay

In thinking about what the future means to me, I realize that it becomes a two
part question.  What has the future meant to me and what do I want the future to
mean to me?

I have spent most of my life being profoundly dissatisfied with myself.  I have
never been pretty “enough”, smart “enough”, thin “enough” or strong
“enough”.  Therefore, the future has always been the place I lump my
desires.  The present was when nothing was ever “enough” and so the future
was the time when everything would be “enough”.  The future was defined by
“after”: “after” I lose (more) weight, “after” I get my children
raised, “after” I learn to lift weights.  There was hope there and the
expectation that things would be better then.  All things would be better,
obviously, and they would be the way I imagined it.  All the things wrong with
“now” would be fixed and righted.  I thought this was the way to live—to
set goals and to improve yourself constantly.  I thought this was a good thing,
that trying to better yourself and strive for more, more, more was the answer to
leading a productive life.

However, as the years passed the future became more undefined, more gray, and
more murky.  And ironically, the future got closer.  It was no longer
“after” the children are raised;  it became “after” the holidays are
finally over, “after” the next birthday, “after” this busy week.  The
problem was that “after” was always followed closely by another “after”.
 I was struggling through event after event with the only goal being to get
things over with.  I was wasting my life in dissatisfaction waiting everything
to be over so I could make myself into who I wanted to be.  And while I made
progress towards who I wanted to be, it really was still never “enough”.

So what do I want the future to mean?  I want to consider the future
irrelevant.  I want to live in the present and learn to enjoy that, with all its
stresses and chores.  I want to be satisfied with who I am and how I am.    I do
not want to give up on goals or trying to better myself.  But I want to do it in
a way that is full of happiness and hope.  In a way marked with enthusiasm and
pride.  I want to be proud of not just where I am going, but of where I am and
of how I am getting there, and even of where I’ve been.  Most of all, I want
to better myself not because I hate where I am.  I want to better myself simply
because I can.  With that mindset, the future becomes simply a series of events.
Because my life would no longer be defined by the events, my life would be
defined by who I am.  And that would finally be “enough”.

Sean’s Essay

Future is an interesting word.  Interesting in the sense that it represents
merely a snapshot of what we hope to be, as people, given our current
circumstances.

Now (this point in time) is not the future we have predicted in days, months or
years previous.  It is not the static moment in time we usually envision it to
be.  It\'s an idea, a theory; a reflection of our true self.

Everyone wants to be better off.  That\'s a given.  However, there are plenty
of people who think the \"future\" is bleak.  Especially considering the current
economic situation or whatever it is that could be considered the \"doom and
gloom\" subject of the time.  These people view the future as a foregone
conclusion; fate.  A static moment in time.  A moment in time that fastly
approaches as each dreadful moment passes.

We all have people like this in our lives.  The subject matter of \"future\" is
subjective; it does not need to be of large scale.  

The husband who dreads returning home to his nagging wife.  The employee whom
only looks forward to that last second of work.  Only, when it arrives they
shift focus and look forward to that last moment of their commute.  When that
arrives, they look forward to the moment they can finally lay their head down.
The money-centrist who lives and dies, on a daily basis, with the swings of the
stock market.  Starting each day with an expectation.  Ending each day with
jubilation or dispair.

All of these people view the \"future\" as a static moment in time.  A moment
that one must only endure time itself to reach.  A moment that culminates and
passes.  This thoughts process speaks volumes about the individual.  It speaks
volumes about how they feel about themselves, their ambitions and others around
them.

I, however, chose to view \"future\" as an idea; a theory.  A simple
understanding that tomorrow I will be better then I am today.  Not by luck or by
fate, but by choice.  I will be better tomorrow because of the conscious
decisions I am making \"now\"; the present.  There will be challenges, obstacles
and set backs; that is a given.  But I have the utmost confidence in my ability
to grow, persevere and get \"better\".  Again, not by luck or by fate, but by
choice, because I have willed it so.

Most people view the \"future\" as simply the process of ascending the mountain
of life.  Markers along the trail.  Spots that one must reach and pass through
in order to attain the ultimate summit.  We don\'t get there \"one step at a
time\".  No.  We get there \"one correct step at a time\".  Those correct steps
must then be made with the utmost precision and dedication.  Everyday one must
make the right decisions in order to summit their own mountain.

Everyone has a different mountain to climb.  Different heights, inclines and
weather conditions.  It, however, is not a race.  Everyone summits their
personal mountain eventually.  However those who make the correct choices in the
present, instead of starring at the peak that we call \"future\", will get to
enjoy the view much longer then others.

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