I want to take some time talking about why I chose the name of this website to be, One Life. It's kind of obvious, I know, but I chose One Life because we only have one life to live. We are only going to have one today and then today will be gone.

A lot of you are living in pain and hurt and despair. Before I talk about that I want to mention an awesome song by the group Switchfoot from their CD, The Beautiful Letdown.

The title of the song is, This is your Life. I'm going to type out the words because they are so true.

Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
Yesterday is a promise that you've broken
Don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes,
This is your life.
And today is all you've got now.
And today is all you'll ever have.
Don't close your eyes.

This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be when the world was younger and you had everything to lose?

Yesterday is a kid in the corner
Yesterday is dead and over.

This is your life, are you who you want to be?
This is your life, are you who you want to be?

Like they say, "This is your life!!!" Not someone else's; Yours. You have control over it and your future. I want to ask you now…give yourself an honest answer. Are you who you want to be? Do you like the way you are living? Do you like the hiding, the secrecy, the starving, the binging, the purging, the hurting; and whatever else might be going on. Not just do you like it, but is that who you want to be when you graduate, when you get married, when you have kids, when you're a grandma. Do you want this to be your life?

I know you are thinking well that's all I've known, that's who I am. Switchfoot points out another very good point in saying that "Yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead, yesterday is a promise that you've broken." We mess up yesterday's, we make mistakes and that is okay. But "Today is all we've got now, don't close your eyes." Don't give up hope and accept something you don't want and that is hurting your life. Today is all we have, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow is never for sure. We have to make the best out of today and work every today on being the person you want to be. Don't accept any less.

Please look at your life and think, is this who I want to be? If you answered No, this isn't who I want to be, you can change. There is hope and there is a better future. It's hard, I know, but if you keep trying everyday to make your life a little bit more how you want it to be, things that you struggle with will become easier and easier to overcome and to discontinue.

Challenge of the Week: Write down what it is in your life that you like and what it is that you would like to change. Take the list of things you want to change and write out ways that you are going to work towards changing your life.

Another good tool in stopping bad habits like the eating disorder is to write out a resolution. Goals you have and what you are no longer going to do. I wrote one saying that I was not going to cut myself from that day on. I wrote down Bible verses for encouragement because I knew I would be tempted to do it again. I wrote down phone numbers of people I could call if I felt I was going to do it and I had a friend agree with me.

It's just a good way to keep your-self accountable and to give yourself a chance to stand up against the bad feelings and bad desires.