The Measure of Things

So recently I discovered that I was obsessively measuring every little morsel of food that went into my body and not in a good way. I was measuring to make sure I kept the intake low. It got me to thinking why on earth I was still doing this. Why did I keep turning to scales, nutrition labels, and grades in my life. Why do I obsess over weight, calories, BMI, GPA? Why do I measure my life in numbers?
I got deep into it and realized its all I've known. Growing up I was judged by my peers and family based on my weight. I was a success or a failure based of my grades and my calories. Those were what were used to measure me and my success and what I thought life should be measured based on.
Also, numbers give me control. They are the one thing in life that is definite. If the scale says 25 g of food is there, then 25 g of food is there. Plain and simple. No questions asked, nothing. In life filled with grey instead of black and white, numbers give me my control, my definite measure.
If I go based off something other than numbers I must admit that life can't be controlled. Some days will be good, some days will be bad. There is no number that can tell me how the day will be. I just have to surrender and let life happen. The more I thought about it the more I started to see that is the beauty in life--the surprises it brings. That's why I love veterinary medicine, because no day will ever be the same, no case will be the same, and no cure is the same. All depend on the situations that arise. That is life.
Life is more than numbers. It's more than calories, it's more than a scale, it's more than my GPA. So to is happiness. Happiness cannot be measured by calories or the scale. I can have a good day no matter how much I weigh or how many calories I eat. Bad things will happen no matter how much I restrict or how much weight I lose. Good things will happen even on days I eat more or weigh more, because life isn't governed by my scale. Joy isn't governed by a scale unless I let it be, and still then it isn't true joy, because the next time that scale's red number blinks....my joy can be gone.
So how should I measure life. Well, these past two days I haven't measured my food and have enjoyed them so much more. So my question now becomes should we measure life? Why not just experience life for the ride it is? Experience each moment as it happens. Don't dictate the path of tomorrow by the events of today. Don't deem a day a success or a failure, because every day is filled with ups and downs. We don't measure the success of a road trip by whether we had to take side roads, how many hills or dips there were, or how many miles long it was. We measure a road trip by the experiences. And even then we don't measure it, we just remember.
So for now I won't measure life....I will just live it. For life isn't here to be deemed good, bad, successful, failure. It's here to be experienced. Every breath we take is another opportunity to learn, love, and live. So take it. Stop measuring and start living. This moment is yours for the taking.