It was the final piece of evidence…..

While cleaning out the spare room that joins up with the laundry room, I noticed some stuff wedged in the space between the washer and the dryer.

So I grabbed the broom in an attempt to use the handle to fish it out-

I had found a truly ancient artifact … my long lost pair of old house pants.

There they were, in a size 5X.

And the only reason they probably weren’t completely worn out with holes in them, was because I had lost track of them at some point and they had been so well preserved like a fossil in the laundry room for the last few years.

I am fairly certain that I would have worn them until they had fallen apart, had they had not so mysteriously disappeared.

They were my favorite pants.

My comfy cozy, always fit me, super awesome, “feel good” pants. And looking at them now, I could hardly imagine that they had ever been mine.

So I put them on …

And you know what?

They still are my “feel good” pants….

But for an entirely different reason.

When I had worn them before, the pants themselves had felt good, but now, while wearing them once again- I was the one, that was feeling good. (Mostly because, now I can fit my whole body into one leg!)

And now, being here at my goal, while wearing my old “feel good” pants, I am reminded of the very first new pair of smaller (size 22) pants, that I had tried on at Target after losing my first 25 pounds.

After starting in a size 26, that first new pair felt like a major fist bump.

Those size 22’s became my new “feel good” pants, because they represented my progress, and were a tangible article of my success.

I felt like running out of that dressing room, and racing up and down the aisles of the store while high fiving everyone along the way.

I wanted to walk a runway, give myself “two snaps up in a circle”, and alert the media.

I wanted to hold a press conference, and sign autographs, and kiss babies.

The funny thing is, it continued to feel that victorious every time I got into a smaller size.

I think I felt just as good wearing that size 22 pair, as I did wearing the most recent pair that I purchased in a size 2, when I finally hit my goal.

Those two pairs may have been twenty sizes different…

But the happiness I felt…?

Well, the happiness was the same size.

Because both of them were symbolic of all of my hard work.

And by the time I got into those size 2’s, my definition of “feel good pants” had evolved.

It was an evolution, if you will, of my “feel good”pants.

And in a way, every new pair of pants eventually earned that title.

Every pair.

From that very first original pair that I had found behind the dryer, to that very last pair that I had bought….

They all felt good.

Because they each represented an important milestone.

And they each told a chapter of my story.

It’s so important to celebrate every step along the way, and for us to acknowledge our progress as we go.

Because no matter what size “feel good” pants you’re putting on-

If it’s a size you couldn’t wear before, or even a size you have since left in the dust….

It always feels like a high five!

So do a little dance, and make a little noise-because you earned it.

And ultimately, it’s not about how the pants feel….

It’s about how YOU feel, in the pants.