Connecting with a WW Leader

Last fall when I started WW I went to a different meeting every day to see how different WW leaders ran their meetings. That was back in the day before the new fancy flip charts. Each leader created their own flip charts. It made each meeting fun and unique. Eventually I settled in with Karen, a wonderful WW leader. I have to admit that I think I connected to her too quickly but she was so wonderful that it was hard not to connect to her. She took time for me, looked over my tracking to see where I was going wrong and where I was going right and just generally cared about my weight loss journey. I liked her a lot and enjoyed her meeting completely. I even wrote a letter to her to let her know how appreciative I was of her taking time for me.

Well, you guessed it, within a week of doing that Karen announced that she was retiring. I was devastated to say the least. How could I have connected with someone that quickly? I don't know but I did. She talked to me after the announcement and said that she was worried about me specifically and wanted to make sure that I stuck with the plan even though she was leaving. I told her I would but then I got sick and because I didn't have her there to route me on, I quit WW for four months. I know a big part of it was that Karen wasn't there anymore. I think if she had been there, even though I was in a lot of physical pain from being sick, I would have tried harder to make it to the meetings and stay on track. But she was gone and I didn't try.

Now I've been back for a month and have found another leader that I feel I am connecting to in a Wednesday night meeting that is for people who need to lose 50+ pounds (I personally need to lose just over 100 pounds). It's a meeting I feel comfortable in because of the leader, Dori. She's very positive but still honest and down to earth. She is excellent about acknowledging everyone's achievements and accomplishments for the past week. She's exactly the kind of leader I wanted. But she's been in WW for about 20 years now. So I'm worried that she'll retire and then what will I do.

So I've told myself that I have to connect to the meeting more than the leader, which by the way isn't happening, even after a month's time. I told myself that I would appreciate Dori being there and if she's not there I'll just deal with it. So I go to the meeting last night and guess what? Dori had someone fill in for her because she just got back from a trip and wasn't ready to come in last night. My heart sank. I like the leader who filled in but she just wasn't Dori. So I can see already that I'm connecting to the leader more than I am to the meeting. I really would be sad if Dori left (there's absolutely no talk of that, just to be clear) and I had to choose another leader.

I'm telling myself that I'm going to stick with this meeting no matter what and no matter who leads it. I'm in it for the long haul and I'm in it for me. I need to ask for what I need out of the meeting and out of my leader. It's up to me to do this and make sure it happens. I can't let a leader get in the way negatively again. I can't stop going for any reason. I have to keep doing this.