So, its been quite a while since I composed a post. There has been a lot going on in my personal life and a lot of changes taking place. I have also started a free group for moms out there for accountability and support. You can find out more HERE! Not to mention my 12 week clients and the ones that have continued with me on a monthly plan.
Anyway, back to this current post. Sometimes God and life just speak to me and I cannot ignore it. As I stated above, my life is going through a lot of changes. These changes have caused me to be introspective and really think about how I view life. In addition to this, a couple of other things have happened that spoke to me. The first is a patient I treated this past weekend who had been through Hell and back. With his permission, I share part of his story. He had a liver transplant in the late 1990’s. The liver was not functioning well in his body so they left him open, packed him with ice, and tried to find a new liver. While waiting, the liver started functioning. Then, he had a long road of recovery ahead of him. Fast forward to this past November and he began having tremors in his hands and arms. He recently went for testing to figure out the cause. The day of doctor visits was so taxing for him that he fell, broke his hip, and is now in rehab. All of this would be frustrating for someone in itself, but it turns out that he is also self-employed as a painter. He must be very good because he has already been commissioned to paint the portrait of an important staff member at the NC School of the Arts to mark the person’s retirement. So, my point of telling you all this is that this man was pleasant and optimistic. Even in the midst of pain and uncertainty of his condition, he simply said that he had to get better so he could get that painting done. In his mind, his glass was definitely half full, he was going to make the most of it, and he was going to fill it completely. Even if he is unable to accomplish this goal, I believe that he will readjust and be OK.
The second of these things is from a reading for in my devotional. I picked up the book randomly at the beginning of the year because the cover spoke to me and it had 1 short, manageable devotion for each day of this year. Many of them have spoken to me. I decided to read ahead a little and the devotion for Jan 21th was LET YOUR WORDS BE POSITIVE AND FEW. The bible verse connected was this “You heard Me tell you, I am going away and I am coming (back) to you. If you (really) loved Me, you would have been glad, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater and mightier that I am.” John 14:28. Jesus is going through such adverse circumstances but always chose to talk about them in a positive way. The final part of the devotion is what the book calls a power thought and for this entry the power thought is “When I speak about my situations, I speak positively.”
So the combination of my current situation, the encounter with this remarkable patient, and my devotional has really caused me to look at how I view my world (half empty or half full) during this time in my life. I think people are born with a positive outlook on life or a more negative one. For me, I am a bit of a weird combination because while a do have many positive thoughts, I am also a worrier. I am always thinking ahead and trying to figure out what to do to get the best outcome and I also have a habit of worrying about things that I have no control over. I also have spent more years of my life than not with someone who always thinks the glass is half empty and found myself adopting that mindset as well over times. Over the past year, I also was involved in a mentorship for my business that dealt with as much on mindset as it did with business development. What I have learned is this, whether we are naturally pessimistic or naturally optimistic and whether our glass in naturally half full or half empty; we do have the power to change our perspective and it makes a huge difference. For instance in my life, late at night I have a tendency to lament that I feel I have wasted 20 years of my life, but I can instantly turn that around by remembering how lucky I am to have my 4 beautiful children. I can also worry about what my future will look like or I can be thankful and optimistic about my future and realize I have control over what it becomes. So, my practice is to make these mindset changes every time I find myself thinking the glass is half empty. I am not 100% successful (especially late at night) but I am finding over time, it gets easier and more automatic and the more I do it, the lighter and happier I feel!
So, enough about me and onto the takehome for you! I encourage you to take a look at your life and how you view it. Because I am a nutrition and exercise coach, I will put it in to the context of that. When thinking about what you eat, focus on what you are eating, not what you cannot have. And with this, focus on how these foods make you feel. If you slip and eat things you feel you shouldn’t, focus on the fact that you have the knowledge and are only one meal from being on track again. When thinking about how you exercise, focus on what you are able to do, not what you are unable to do. Be proud of the days that you are active and that will motivate you much more that beating yourself up about the days that you did not!
Nurturing Fitness 