Monday, February 10, 2014

Motivational Monday

Oh so true. It's hard to be happy when you don't feel good about yourself. I'm starting to see that believing in myself is one of the most important aspects of being happy.

I can pinpoint a time in my life that I was completely happy with where I was - spring/summer of 2012. I was on a streak of racing personal bests, I had been hired part-time permanent at my job (which I believed put me on the fast track to being able to move up), my weight was at the lowest it had been in my adult life, hubby and I had all sorts of fun plans for the summer, and we went to Las Vegas with friends that summer.

I've thought about that summer and why I was happy. It seemed as if everything was going my way and yes, in a way it was, but it was because I believed I could do anything. Race PR after race PR made me think I would PR on my next race. Going from volunteer to full-time contract, to part-time permanent in a job that I was excited about made me believe that my career was on the right track. I was completely on track with my eating and working out and was 12 pounds from my goal weight. My summer was chock full of fun stuff and we went on a great vacation with friends!

Then it slipped away. I don't know why. I came back from vacation and couldn't get out of my "I'm on vacation and can eat anything I want" mode. I got injured in September (shin splints) and had a bad training for the Atlantic City Half Marathon in October. As I worked in my position it was becoming clear that what I thought was the perfect move in terms of job might not have been (and it is now been confirmed).

Now? I don't have that same confidence in myself. I've gained 35 pounds since then. My races have been awful honestly. I'm unhappy with my job (though I still really like my co-workers! They are the reason I'm not worse off in my work thoughts.).

We've gotta work on what we believe about ourselves if we are going to be happy. We have to know we deserve being happy and worth doing the things that make us happy. It's not an easy thing to wrap the brain around or allow ourselves to do. We are taught to think of others first and their needs (at least women are). It's not wrong to think of yourself. In order to be true to others, you have to be true to yourself - meaning believe you are worth the effort to be happy.

This week I am going to work on defining all the things that make me happy and find a way to incorporate them into my life more often. When you believe you are worth the the investment, then happiness will follow.

What do you believe you are worth? Do you believe you are worth the investment? Do you believe you deserve to be happy?

4 comments:

  1. I think you will only be able to find happiness once you realize that you can be happy regardless of your weight. It is something that took me a long time to figure out. Of course, much like many others, I would like to be thinner. However, I don't let that stand in the way of other things in life making me happy. Friend - you are beautiful, kind and have me as your biggest fan for all of your exercise/running accomplishments. But it makes me sad to read these posts. Be Happy!

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    1. Thank you dear one. I so appreciate your friendship. Part of the weight thing is I want to be healthy. Being as overweight as I am, could contribute to heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes all of which my dad had. So, I want to be closer to a healthy weight to avoid any issues later on. I got enough back problems to worry about, I don't want those too!

      I'm working on the other things that make me happy. Trust me. Running and getting faster make me happy, so I'm working on that. I adopted a penguin from the Maryland Zoo because it made me happy to support the zoo and penguins. I'm working on it. Just gotta keep plugging away. :)

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  2. I want to hug you right now. I fully understand what you mean. I realized recently that i needed to get in to a new routine and to start making decisions because that is what helps me.

    I think you are on the right track simply by taking the time to recognize it and you are every single week taking action!!!

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    1. Thank you Amanda! I appreciate the love. I like having a plan and start working through it to determine what steps I need to take to do things that make me happy. It's a process, so hopefully by the end of the year I will have taken the steps to instill happiness in my life. In the scheme of things, I think everyone should do this. Because, as my favorite quote states, no one gets out of this life alive. ;-)

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