Parting Thoughts
On the one hand, May seemed to last about 120 days. I recently realized that May feels a lot like December, to me—I am supposed to be enjoying it, but it’s packed with enough stuff to make my head spin off my neck.
On the other hand, I’m sitting here typing my last post of my 31 Day-series and I can hardly believe it’s over. I have about 10 more days worth of tips for you! Which I’m sure has everything to do with the fact that I skipped a few days. Oh well.
Don’t worry, I won’t mention all of them here…But I do want to leave you with two parting suggestions:
1.Gather a Team of Cheerleaders.
We all have those friends who think it’s perfectly fine to be plump. They are the ones who equate “really living” with “eating crap.” They are the ones who will tease you for ordering the salad and broiled fish, or for bringing the fruit salad to the picnic, or for refusing the seven-layer-chocolate cake.
They are also the ones who have digestive problems, insomnia, chronic fatigue and high cholesterol, by the way. Don’t listen to them.
Instead, gather around you a support team of like-minded individuals. The ones who get what you are trying to accomplish and support you through the rough days. Even if it’s just one person—cheerleaders will make your journey to health all the more sweeter.
A few years ago, a group of my friends decided to be that for one another. Every day for a few months, we e-mailed our food log to each other. Every day we included at the end of our logs a section called, “What I DIDN’T eat.” It helped us tremendously, to be able to say, “I turned down the muffin and had an apple instead. I made chocolate chip cookies for the bake sale, but didn’t eat any of the dough.” And it was so refreshing to get six e-mails back that said, “Wow! Way to go! You rock!”
Who can you ask to support you? Call her today. Tell her what you are doing. Ask her to cheer you on.
2.Don’t Chase Perfect.
I found an old picture of myself the other day. In it, I was 20 years old and wearing a bathing suit. Amazing (and deflating) to me, that as hard as I work out and as well as I eat, I do NOT look like that any longer. I considered taping the picture to my mirror as a motivator to keep pressing toward my goal to lose the weight I gained on Lexapro.
But then I looked at it again, long and hard. Sure, I had like 2% body fat, chiseled abs and crazy muscle tone in my thighs and arms. But that was 22 years ago. I’ve lived like a thousand lifetimes since then. Is it even realistic to chase after a pre-baby, 20-year-old college body? Or Jennifer Aniston’s body? Or Glamour Magazine’s computer-generated version of the Perfect Body?
I decided, NO…it is NOT.
Rather than chasing what I would perceive as a “perfect” version of my body, I am chasing health. I want to be healthy, fit and energetic. That’s all I’m chasingm nothing more. And I would challenge you to do the same. Put away the proverbial 20-year-old skinny pictures, the magazine covers or whatever the mental image of perfection is to YOU.
Instead...
Eat whole foods.
Drink lots of water.
Move often.
Sleep at night.
And live a life of thankfulness to the God who is allowing you to breathe.
That is the real recipe for health and wellness.
By doing this, your body will be exactly what it’s supposed to be.
Nothing less.
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Thank you so much for joining me this month, and thank you to all of my blog friends who participated in the series. Wasn’t this fun?
If you missed any part of it, here are the links. I will also have them posted behind the button at the top of the blog (if you receive this by e-mail, you will need to click on the title of this post to go to the blog.)
When you are finished here, go to my friend Lisa Smith. She is giving away a $25 gift certificate for total cuteness to celebrate the final day of her 31 Day series!
Happy Summer!
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31 Days Closer to Health, Wellness and Bathing Suit Season
And here are the other ladies who participated in the 31 Days Closer to Serieseseseseses....
Oh Sandy, your last point about being thankful to God who allows us to breathe just about made me cry. It's so true! I beat myself up every day because I have put on a few pounds over the past year. My three-kids-and-pre-menopausal self put on a few pounds. It's bound to happen. Your advice here is practical and useful and wonderful. I love this post and will probably go back to read it many times over. Thank you so much!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing the series. It was great!
ReplyDeleteLori
Thanks I have enjoyed and will be back for reminders as I progress forward.
ReplyDeleteA great conclusion.
ReplyDeleteHey, we did it! Mostly. I only skipped 3 or 4 posts on my end.
I've enjoyed it and man, do I know a whole lot about looking bad and looking good. Now,if I can just put 75% of it into practice, I'll be looking pretty cute myself.
I agree with the above comments, Sandy...your conclusion is right on target, and full of wisdom!
ReplyDeleteA healthy pursuit of "goals" offers great motivation, and can be a positive guideline toward success. But if the goals become an obsession, or when the pathway to the goals becomes a guilt laden drudgery, it tends to cloud from our focus God's bigger picture for our lives.
As Proverbs 3:5-6 says,
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will direct your paths."
Living a life of Thankfulness to God for His unconditional love can't help but make the beauty produced by that love, on the inside, be evident on the outside.
And you, sweet, thoughtful Sandy, are beautiful inside and out!
Sandy Cooper, You Rock!! That post did make me cry... You are a total cheerleader and I bet you'd still rock a short skirt ;D
ReplyDeleteThanks for inviting me along and inspiring me to live better and settle less. I love you!!!!!
yes.. this has been such wonderful info and encouragment! it will be good to come back and get reminders!
ReplyDelete