My "Support" Group

I'm a back row kind of girl.  Classrooms, movies, you name it, I don't like to sit near the front.   I'm very shy at my core, and to sit in the front of a room feels very vulnerable - I don't want to be noticed, I don't want to get called on, I just want to be a fly on the wall.  Pretty much the only place I don't like sitting in the back row is on an airplane, and that is simply due to my exit strategy.  After all, the whole reason I ever get ON a plane is so I can get OFF a plane, and if I'm sitting in the very back waiting to exit it's like trying not to pee myself while having my picture taken next to a waterfall after drinking 3 gallons of lemonade.  I can't stand it, can't flash a real smile - all I'm really capable of is saying a prayer of gratitude that I no longer have to travel with small children.

I am the same way with my Weight Watchers meetings.  I weigh in, catch a seat in the back, then try to ignore people for the next half hour so I'm not delayed getting out as soon as it's over.  I don't usually say much. 

Usually.

Our last meeting centered around the topic of stress eating.  The group was discussing how to handle stress without using food, and what to do when one is tempted to use food as a coping mechanism.  "Take a hot bath," offered one member.  "It helps reduce stress and it's pretty challenging to eat while your bathing."  I couldn't resist and piped up, "Challenging, yes.  But not impossible."  It was in that moment when the first 4 rows of people turned around in their seats to stare at me that I realized...

...there are certain perks to sitting in the front.