Love the body God gave you, please!

Friends! I have something important to say today!  Love the body God gave you, please!

This is a really hard thing to do, I know. I have been known to say “I hate my body” repeatedly.  But I don’t really mean that I actually hate it.  I just don’t like how it is functioning at the time of that proclamation.

You know how sometimes someone’s behavior really makes you mad?  You don’t all of a sudden hate the person right?  You just don’t like their behavior at that moment.  I’ve been known to say to my daughter “I love you, but I don’t like how you are acting right now.” And it’s true!  So I think we need to think of our bodies this way too. 

When I am starving after working all day and wish I could just go through a drive through for some food, but I can’t because it’s not gluten-free- this is when I don’t like my body.

When it’s another month that I have not conceived a sibling for my daughter- this is when I don’t like my body.

When I have heart burn, despite the fact that I am sure I did not eat gluten- this is when I don’t like my body.

When cat’s make my sinuses very angry, but yet my daughter loves them and wants one- this is when I don’t like my body.

When I’m running and my mind wants to keep going, but my body has had it- this is when I don’t like my body.

But let’s turn these all around!

Being gluten free sucks sometimes.  Especially when I want to eat something fast and there’s nothing available in drive through. But my body feels so much better without gluten in it!  I’m so happy to have found the solution to my health issues for the last few years.

When I go another month without being pregnant, I can think about how hard my body worked to create my daughter.  How amazing is that!

When I have heart burn, I know I probably ate something that doesn’t really fuel me the right way, and my body is telling me that, and I can learn from that.  After I do an aloe shot to squelch the heartburn.

When I have a bad run, I can look at all the good runs I had, and know I will have one again.  The last run before my half marathon sucked.  Pretty bad.  But I finished my run and figured that meant my race would be a great run!

My point is, God gave you your body,  and even though we may not like it all the time, please remember to love it!

Love it by nourishing it with good fuel!  Love it by moving it, even if that means walking for you, just MOVE! Love it by learning from the things you don’t like, and cherishing the things you LOVE about it!  And love it by getting back up, after something knocks you down, and conquering those negative thoughts that come with failure!

If I hadn’t overcome my horrible runs, I would not have accomplished running a half marathon this past weekend.  And I would totally let my negative thoughts about having to walk a little of it cloud my pride at having accomplished something so awesome!  But I’m going to accept that I had to walk for a little bit, and decide how to make that not happen the next time around.

So, as I tell my friend Jen, “Suck it up, buttercup!” and fill that glass of water to the top.  And then conquer something!