Self-Love Reflection: Putting Things Into Perspective
Posted: October 2, 2011 at 10:08 amMorning, friends! Time for another chance to share some motivation and inspiration. Leading us in today’s self-love reflection is Elizabeth from Reads, Recipes, Runs – one inspiring lady. Enjoy her story.
Hello fellow Faith Fitness Fun readers! I am Elizabeth over at reads recipes runs, a blog where I share my passion for reading, creating new recipes, and training for my first half marathon. I have been a huge fan of Tina’s blog for quite a while, and I am just so excited to share with you. I absolutely love how Tina takes the time every week to share inspiring stories and things to think about.
On my journey to this half marathon, and let’s face it losing weight, I have found myself losing sight of the big picture. It’s so easy to focus on what you are eating, when you can fit in your workout, and punishing yourself for not meeting goals.
You can read about my roller coaster of a journey on my blog if you are interested, but right now I am on the road to lose 50 lbs. I know it is a huge undertaking, and I know it’s going to take a while. But the fact is, just a small change in perspective can change EVERYTHING.
I work at a children’s hospital and one day I was super grumpy because of one thing or another, complaining constantly to myself.
I walked to the cafeteria to grab some water, and I saw a boy with no arms and no legs. His caretaker was carrying him to the car. I was shocked. What did I have to complain about again? Perspective.
By taking the time to change my perspective on little things, I am seeing changes throughout my life. Here are a few examples:
I don’t have to run, I get to. Every single day I see kids who will never run a day in their life. I am blessed that my body will let me (although some mornings I think it doesn’t want to haha).
I don’t have to eat healthy, but I am fortunate enough to have the knowledge, resources, and passion to nourish my body.
I don’t have to lose weight. I am blessed to have the drive, tools, and support of a loving husband to reach my goals.
I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to workout. I am lucky enough to have the
time before work to do so, and I am so blessed to get to see the sun rise. I am also
blessed to live in an area where I feel safe enough to go out when it’s still a little dark (trust me, I lived in some areas where I would never do that haha).
So I had a bad day and slipped up and partook in some emotional eating (OK maybe a
lot of eating). Every single day is a fresh start and if you look at it that way, how lucky are you to have the opportunity every single day to choose how you are going to live your life?
Now don’t get me wrong. I am far from perfect. I sit on the couch and wallow because the scale doesn’t reflect what I want it to. I get grumpy and make excuses because I don’t want to work out. But when this happens, if I take the time to have a little perspective, it’s amazing how quickly my attitude will change.
One way that perspective has helped me the most is that I am no longer beating myself up emotionally any more. I used to think “Oh you are so fat nothing you ever do is good enough, no matter how hard you try you will always be gross.” Now I think things like “This is a journey and by honoring where I am on my journey now, I will appreciate the destination so much more.”
Sometimes all it takes to improve your self love is to just change your perspective and see where it will take you.
- What ways has a change in perspective helped you during a difficult journey?
- Be sure to send me an email if you would like to share your own self-love reflection!
Tags: guest post, self-love reflections
What a wonderful perspective, and wonderful post! <3
Tina thanks so much for letting me share a little of my story on your blog! 🙂
Great post! I loved reading this 🙂
[…] those of you who haven’t seen, I did a guest post on Tina’s blog Faith, Fitness, Fun about putting things into perspective for her self-love […]
This was exactly what I needed to hear this morning. Thank you for helping me put things I usually take for granted into perspective.
I’m so happy you enjoyed the post Marty 🙂
Great post! I feel like perspective is the key to success. When you realize how good you have it now, it can redefine your expectations. I had a lightbulb moment regarding perspective when my brother-in-law was in the hospital waiting indefinitely for a lung transplant.*
I read that post on your blog last week Amy! So touching.
Hi Elizabeth (and Tina)! What a great and inspiring guest post. Sometimes I lose sight of the bigger picture too and I love reading posts like this that reminds me of perspective. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of the Sunday!
Hi Bianca! Thanks so much for your sweet words! I hope you have a wonderful week 🙂
Wow thanks for this post Elizabeth! (And Tina for making it possible!). It’s so great! Perspective is so absolutely key in all things in life- especially in trying to change certain aspects. When I was in the hospital for my eating disorder and trying to fight for recovery, having a perspective that compared my situation to the sick kids in my life helped me a lot. Like you said, you’re lucky enough to be able to run. For me, it was thinking of the kids I’ve known with cancer. Especially a girl, Kate, who’s brain cancer relapsed and there is really no cure for her. Kate wants to grow up so badly and have kids- we all want Kate to be able to just finish first grade. It’s remembering kids like Kate, who have a disease with no cure, that help me remember that I am the cure to my disease. While my disease was for the most part out of my control, the cure was entirely dependent upon me. Remembering that I have this chance and I’m lucky enough to have a disease that I can get 100% better for just because I want to has helped me immeasurably.
Wow. That is so powerful about the perspective you are the cure. It certainly doesn’t make it easier but that perspective is powerful nonetheless. Kudos to you for adapting that mentality to help push through.
aw thanks. it’s definitely hard to remember at times, but that same idea is sorta my main motivation for wanting to work in a hospital. i’ve twice had problems that were lucky enough to be curable- my eating disorder, and i had open-heart surgery when i was born. i literally owe my life on multiple levels to a few children’s hospitals- and i want to spend that life paying it forward.
Hi Rachel! I am so inspired by your perspective on things 🙂 It’s such an empowering thing to realize what you can control and what you can’t, and learning to deal with that.
Good for you for realizing that you are the cure for your eating disorder, it’s so true and so amazing that you know it! I have had a few friends with EDs that I don’t think ever really realized that, and it’s something that they carry with them every day. You’re awesome!!
thank you! recovering from ED is hard- and i think you have to realize that you’re actually strong enough to beat it before you can even try. a lot of people feel helpless/hopeless. it’s hard to realize that you can stop it if you choose to- not that it’s easy by any means!
I very much agree with you that either going through life-threatening difficulties yourself, or witnessing the same in others’ lives, is one surefire way of putting self-love issues into perspective. I’m slightly embarrassed to say it, but sometimes I’m even similarly affected by fictional books or movies. For example, yesterday I saw the film Higher Ground, which involves an absolute tragedy and loss of life in a sense… all I could think while watching it was, “I am so, so lucky to be alive… and to have all that I have, both internally and externally.”
It’s so true, though, as others have said, that it’s much easier to be inspired in moments of epiphany (“DUH! I am ALIVE! That’s all that matters!”) than it is to actually MAINTAIN that sense of reverence for life and perspective…
Aw I love this! Such a wonderful guest post! My mom is on her way to lose 50 pounds and I know it is tough but it is definitely possible. And NO ONE is perfect!! I had 6 cookies today and haven’t worked out for a week…but it’s okay tomorrow’s a new day right!?
Thank you for sharing!