I love old movies.

Love them. Casablanca? Own it.

An Affair to Remember?

Cry every time.

The Way We Were?

Robert Redford as Hubble, swaying on that barstool with his sandy blonde hair, you know the scene.

But one of my all-time favorite movies is the Wizard of Oz. Maybe because I grew up without cable t.v. and the movie played around every holiday. Possibly because I remember the dramatic effect of the movie turning from black and white to color because at the time, I was literally mind-blown.

Mind blown.

I watched the movie again over the Thanksgiving holiday for the first time in years, and at the end of the story, you'll recall that Dorothy yells at the poor old man when his wizard machine goes awry and his gig is up:

“You’re a very bad man!”

And he shuffles over to her and says:

“No, I’m a very good man. But I’m a very bad wizard.”

I feel this way a lot, and I’m not going to compare this only to fitness, though I think you can see where I’m headed.

We set out to do many things in our lives, or at least I hope we do. I hope we find the courage to start new endeavors. We have one client who is always off to a painting class or workshop. When I asked her how long she’d been painting, I was surprised to hear her say that she just started (and his very good at it!).

In the process of starting these new endeavors, and yes it might be joining a gym or starting a different nutrition approach, we sometimes fall short of our goals. It doesn’t mean, it never means, that we shouldn’t hold ourselves accountable. But I think it’s important to remember, especially when we are making big, sweeping changes in our lives, that when we do come up just a little bit short, that we are not bad people.

We are very good people.

But sometimes we’re very bad wizards.