Perspective

It's a beautiful thing...an eleven year old learning to mow.  Oh happy day!  It was just such a beautiful spring day.  My six year old was not to be left out on the picture taking, and showed off his playset skills below.

A couple thoughts on perspective.  The other day I was walking and slightly jogging when I noticed my shadow in front of me.  It looked long and almost thinnish.  Since it was the only entertainment I had, the longer I stared at it the taller I stood and the faster I jogged.  I became one with the shadow and started thinking I looked like that.  Looking lean and long made me feel healthy and strong; like I could conquer the world, or at least that three mile walk.  I finished with one of my best times yet, and walked into the house with an invigorated stride.  There was a purpose in each step, and a swivel in my hips.  When I passed the mirror in my bathroom I did a double take when reality stared back at me.  I was a little shorter and a lot wider than my shadow, but it was too late, I was inspired because I had gotten a glimpse of what can be.

Another thought on perspective.  I am constantly wondering how much weight I can lose by certain events coming up.  Today I was trying to zip up some old size 12s.  Miraculously they zipped, but left a lot of wobbly bits stuffed inside of them.  I immediately started adding up how many weeks there are  until I attend a special luncheon in April, and how many after that until Easter.  Oh there are events after that to keep losing for such as beach week, VBS, the Fourth of July, and my birthday in August.  Then of course there are all the fall festivities to attend for my daughter who will be a senior.  I so look forward to looking nice for her.  After that there's our anniversary in October, and a girl can dream about wearing something nice on a trip with her man.

Then I realized, that not very long ago I had an entirely different perspective when it came to events in my future.  Instead of the events spurring me on to eat healthy and exercise, the events were my excuse to never start.  It went something like this....I cannot start eating healthy in August because we celebrate five birthdays that month, and forget September because there's another birthday and the beginning of school is so stressful.  October?  Why start in October when not only is there another birthday,and my anniversary, but hello Halloween and all that candy.  November you guessed it...another birthday (a family of nine has a lot of birthdays), and of course Thanksgiving.  I would not have even considered starting a healthy eating regime during December with all those parties and Christmas baking.  That really only left one month on the calendar to eat healthy: January.  Yes the coldest, literally darkest month of the year I was going to give it my all to revamp my eating habits.  I did not have long because Valentines was always right around the corner, followed by spring break in March, and Easter with all the candy not long after.  That would get me to May when I declared summer break and decided who can eat healthy on vacation?  That vacation lasted me until August where I hopelessly decided there would be nothing I could do about the fat situation until....yes...January.

I don't know that I ever really admitted all that denial to myself, but I used all those events as excuses not to eat healthy, instead of viewing those events as inspirations to get fit and healthy for.

One last perspective.  I used to give in to temptation, usually in the form of my nightly ice cream bowl, with the thought that what is one more day going to matter?  I could always start tomorrow.  There were a lot of tomorrows in the last six years.  Now I am seeing a little more clearly that tomorrow is today.  TOMORROW I WILL BE WHAT I AM TODAY.  Today if I am eating healthy and exercising, tomorrow I will be growing stronger, thinner, and healthier.  Today if I am eating unhealthy junk and sitting on the couch, tomorrow I will be feeling sluggish, fatter, and hopeless.  And very soon tomorrow turns into July, and October, and December.  Very soon.  Today is tomorrow; I want to live life to the fullest every day.