Mirrors

I’m going to ask you to do something. For some, well most, it is going to be an uncomfortable task. I want you to go wherever you have a full length mirror. Strip down and just look at yourself. What do you see? Give it five minutes. Move around, turn around, bend down, sit down, and jump around. Contort your body into different positions. What comes to your mind when you look at yourself? Now chances are that every single one of you will say something negative. Too fat, too crinkly, wrinkly, dimply, bumpy, stretchy, or bouncy—whatever you thought, just be honest with yourself about your feelings. I’m right aren’t I? Now I want you to spend the next five minutes asking yourself how you got the way you are. But instead of being negative about it, take the chance to see the positive. For mothers, take a look at the fine lines along your stomach or hips and instead of seeing them as these stretch marks that just will not go away, think of them as love marks. You made a child grew a child and then had that child forcibly exited from your body one way or the other, so give yourself a little credit. Those are only souvenirs from the miracle of life that is your child. Look at the bruises and scars your life experiences. Someone used to tell me that freckles were just butterfly kisses from God. What a sweet (yet slightly creepy notion when you think about it) way to look at something that would otherwise be seen as an imperfection. Your body is not imperfect. It is just different. I’m not telling you to completely fall in love with your body exactly how it is right now this second in the ten minutes that you have been in front of the mirror. All I’m asking is that you look at it with an admiration as it grows, gets smaller, more muscular, more curvy, whatever it may be. Just pick something and love it just the way it is. Now we come to a crossroads. The way your body looks and the health inside of it are not always hand in hand. Even the so called skinny bodies can be crazily unhealthy. The same goes for the opposite. The most vavavoombacious bodies can be healthy horses on the inside. The point is not to be skinny, it is to be healthy. So the next time that you are looking in the mirror, loving what you see obviously, think about it. Am I unhealthy or do I just not like the way I look? Often times, if done properly, getting healthy will help you look the way you want to look! Mind. Blown. I know.

So where is it that this big inspirational mumbo jumbo going? What qualifies me to tell a bunch of strangers to get in their birthday suits and look at themselves in the mirror? Well let me tell you. I’m not qualified. I’m not a doctor or an expert. I am you. I am the average in America at the moment. I look at myself in the mirror every day and have those negative feelings. But what I have begun to change is my ability to do something about what I feel. While it may not be easy, I’m doing it. I’m allowing myself to love myself as is throughout this process. Don’t put your love on hold just because you aren’t where you want to be. Trust me, it just isn’t worth it. And loving yourself now will only make your love for yourself later be amplified to a whole new level. Have you ever heard the saying that distance make the heart grow fonder? For me it’s the distance that a tape measure has to go to get around my waist. It may be far now, but it won’t be that way forever.

Brings me to the perfect segue. So I’ve been trying this thing. It is called “working out” and man….am I out of shape. On one end, it makes me sad because I used to be such an athlete, but there isn’t anything I can do now except work my way back to that. So running….anyone who says they like running is just crazzyyyy. I can understand tolerating it, and maybe I will become that crazy person and someday love running, but right now, I am not. I was on the treadmill the other day. And mind you, even when I was an athlete, I was not that coordinated. So I’m running on the treadmill and I have my laptop with my inspiration/distraction from the pain mechanism over on the side. Side note: I have recently gotten into CW’s Beauty and the Beast and Arrow. If you watch the shows, then you know what I mean about inspiration and distraction…because the main men leads spend about 95% of the show with their shirts off. Let’s just say I would workout with any of them any day. Anyway, back to the story. I was running. And I was looking to the side. Not a good combination. But I made it through. I tripped a couple of times sure, but I made it. I jogged for 20 minutes. And towards the end, I was dying, which is sad, but I made it. The whole point to doing something is actually doing it. Try is not an option. Just doing.

My family and I are on this crazy journey and we are supporting each other and keeping each other honest. Really, this journey is not all that different from many families in America today. I read something today from health news site from Britain and that tweet was about how only 1-4 Brits actually do 30 minutes of exercise a day. Really? Have they been to America? I want to be a part of the movement that gets the youth back on track to being all that they can be without being riddled by disease. I want adults to realize their full potential and that there is never an age too old to realize your possibilities. I personally do not believe in the idea of impossibility. So don’t tell yourself that it’s impossible for you to be an athlete. That impossibility is actually just laziness in disguise. If I can do it, anyone can do it.