Morning, 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!

this morning’s Self-Love Reflection comes from one of my long time internet friends – Becca. She does the competition thing with grace, determination, and self-care. I love her journey and watching her continue to grow into a fitter person inside and out. She basically rocks! I hope you enjoy reading more from her. Take it away, Becca!

Hi everyone! I’m Becca and I blog over at Ihearteggs if you didn’t already know that. Anyone looking at my blog would automatically think “hot mess”… or so I’d like to think. With a tendency to be all over the place, I recently left my career in the city to move back to my hometown. Things haven’t been easy and a few years ago this would have killed me because…well, it wasn’t perfect.

Giving up my “perfect” life to make a total life change and giving up my full independence is not like me. I’ve always strived for perfection, but then I started to realize a few things - mainly that perfection was leading me on a dangerous path. Finally being able to let go of that image in my head led to more self love and acceptance than I could have ever dreamed of.

So why is everyone so obsessed with “perfect”?

• Being the perfect competitor
• Being the perfect employee
• Being the perfect girlfriend/sister/mother
• Being the perfect you

That’s why I prefer to say “perfect” now instead of straight up perfect. It all comes down to the comparison trap, letting others dictate who we should be, what we should do, and what is normal.

I always strived for perfection. I mean who doesn’t want that?

I was the perfect daughter. I did as I was told. I went to the schools that were expected of me. I took the right paths in life. Therefore, everything should be great and wonderful right?

Wrong.

While everything looked perfect, I felt far from it. The smile on my face wasn’t real and it wasn’t until I finally decided to break that perfect cycle and take off to Montreal on my own that I really found my happiness. Leaving was hard. The feeling of disappointing everyone, giving up on my fake dreams, made me feel confused and vulnerable. But at least for once I was feeling something.

It was letting go of those expectations and comparisons that allowed me to find MY perfect. The Becca with a no plan-plan, who would take off to Vermont for a weekend because I could and then “waste time” wandering aimlessly for hours. I finally realized I was a spur of the moment impulsive planner.

How is that for crazy and imperfect for you? Pretty great, eh?

I was the same way with dieting for competitions. I wanted to be “perfect”, to follow my plans to the letter, never question, never want explanation.

You want me to stop eating dairy? Okay! Cut out all salt and water? Done! Add in another hour of cardio a day and cancel the rest day? I’m on it!

Huh?! Say what? Fast track right back into disordered eating if you ask me.

So I researched, and I planned and I found a coach who allowed me to not have to eliminate foods. I didn’t have to spend hours on the stepmill. I found a coach who allowed me to be perfect… at being imperfect.

Perfect diets don’t work. Everyone is so different and so individual that you have to find your perfect or you’ll end up miserable…and probably 50 lbs heavier than where you started. Been there, done that. No thank you!

What I’ve learned is perfect for everyone else isn’t necessarily perfect for me. While I know my life and my habits would drive some people crazy, I’d be crazy without them. I fully embrace this new mindset. I no longer strive for the perfect model body, the perfect career, or the perfect home. I strive for being the best ME, whether it’s on a stage, playing at the park with my nephew or burning dinner…for the third night in row.

I used to be terrified of making mistakes and taking the wrong path… but now? Bring it on. I accept the good with the  bad, but most of all I accept me, flaws, talents and everything in between.

• What is a way you have tried to be “perfect”? How do you embrace “imperfections” now?