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Joe’s Journal: Day 57 – The Complexity of an Ice Cream Cone

I arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Diego in late afternoon, where in many ways, I had begun my Reboot journey all the way back at the time of my first urticaria outbreak. I checked in, and unpacked for the last time on my road trip. It was certainly good to see the Pacific again, the ocean of my Australian childhood. I indulged in all the requisite clichés: I made a juice and sipped it on the shores as the sun set. A dolphin leapt out of the seas as if on cue. I was turning every occurrence into something meaningful, so for me that dolphin’s gasp of air was an expression of unbound joie de vivre, which I felt by the bucket-load.

I could have spontaneously combusted from the vitality and excitement I felt flowing through my veins. I felt as if I could swim all the way back home to Australia, aiming to arrive at Manly, the beach where I’d spent most of my weekends as a kid immersed in the rough and tumble of the surf. The best part of my days at the beach had always been the ice cream cone I had afterwards, which confirmed that all was good in the world. Such association between memories and food are deeply ingrained in all of us. Unfortunately for some of us, after we grow up and are left to our own devices that simple ice cream cone can begin to represent something much more complicated. I had a strong feeling, however, that I would have a new perspective this time around. At the end of the Reboot, I felt I had a far greater understanding of myself. I knew that I would finally be able to moderate my radical consumption habits and find some peace and balance where food was concerned.

Have you been following my past journal entries? Make sure you catch up here.  I’m sharing these thoughts with you as part of the 2nd Anniversary celebration of Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead so I hope you are either able to relate or be inspired by my journal entries. Don’t miss out on the other pieces to this celebration: