Amazing how a little piece of bad news can put things in perspective regardless of how much we think we’re prepared for the bad news. I got one yesterday and although I won’t go into the details, I’ve been sad about it and I have been avoiding letting my feelings of sadness take over, in part because I keep telling myself “I was prepared” and in part (the most important part) is because of the holidays, my family needs me to be chipper and happy. At the same time, this piece of news has given me the opportunity to be TRULY grateful for my life and my health.
There are things that we can never control and to pretend that we can would be foolish, but I hope, I wish and I pray that I will have my health for as long as possible so I can raise my daughter and I also pray that my husband will have it too. Jobs go, money may be scarce sometimes, but as long as we have our health, we can do everything possible to provide for her.
So here I am on a perfect Christmas eve, writing on my blog instead of resting. It’s what I do when I’m trying to make sense of things that I can’t. It’s what I do when I am happy, upset or sad… I write.
We take so many things for granted and we hardly ever stop to say “thank you” for what we have or where we are. I am truly grateful for the amazing people that have come into my life this year. Every person from Beachbody that has supported me during my journey to better health. My hubby for having the discipline and commitment to get up with me in the mornings and workout, and for the wisdom he has had to know when his body has needed to rest. I can’t lie, it hasn’t always been easy to get up. As a matter of fact right now that it’s cold and raining, I haven’t wanted to workout at all. I have been getting up late, still managing to workout and then rushing to the bus stop to get there on time.
One thing is for sure, it’s difficult to stay motivated. Joseph once told me that if we live on motivation to do things that the motivation will eventually end if we don’t have inspiration behind it to be the fuel for the “motivation flame.” I have noticed that this is true for myself. If I am only running on motivation and not inspiration, I have to consistently rely on outside sources to stay motivated but when I am inspired it is so much easier to stay motivated. I hope this makes sense to you, because this has been one of the key secrets to my success in exercising and losing this weight this year. It’s not that I am motivated, I am inspired. However this week, I have been solely running on motivation and it’s been tough so I have to sit this weekend and really look at the reasons I am inspired to workout and that’s where the perspective comes in.
As I write this, I am just realizing why it is so easy for me to write this blog, it’s because I feel inspired to do so regardless of what the circumstances are, now if I can only bring that into my workout routine, I’ll be set. I have promised to be completely, 100% honest about my workouts, what motivates me, what stops me and what keeps me going. So here you have it, I haven’t felt like working out at all this week but I still have worked out because my perspective tells me that I feel much better once I have worked out, besides I don’t get an opportunity to kick myself for not working out and believe me, you wouldn’t want to be me when I’m kicking myself… I am ruthless!
So putting things in perspective today means being thankful that I can jump, run, dance and play. It also means helping others to be able to do so… will you join me?