Hmm...

One of the most brilliant people to ever walk the face of the earth once said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."  And lately, I've been doing some thinking about how that applies to my life.  Because I do believe that Einstein was right.  And because he is, it means I have to choose to remain insane...or make some changes!  (That's not as easy of a choice as you might think! Ha!)

So, how does this play out in my life?  Well...it shows up in two major areas in particular that I'm thinking over these days.

How Do You "Do" Fitness???

That's right.  It's that simple...and that complicated.  Deciding that you're going to do something positive about your fitness is just that.  A choice.  As with any choice we make in life, we give up many other options to make the decisions we do.

What do I mean?  Well...tonight, for example, I chose to go to the gym and workout for an hour.  What did I give up to do that?  Time to sit and chill after a long day in the classroom.  Time to read, a passion of mine.  Time to chat with my friends online.  But the key is this...I decided.  It was a conscious choice.  The person in charge of my fitness is ME, and I made the commitment to be a physically fit person.  That includes going to the gym and working hard.  Thinking about what I gave up tonight pales in comparison with the feeling that taking charge of my life gives me.

My friend, Beth, has started an online support group of people like her that want to help each other become more fit, lose fat in the first 90 days of 2013.  I joined, along with many of my friends.  Beth has decided...consciously chosen...to be different, and to encourage her friends to be, too.

My point this evening is this:  life is meant to be lived intentionally.  On purpose.  We are not meant to merely respond to circumstances around us.  We were designed with the capacity to make decisions, and we need to empower ourselves to do just that.

I hope you lived on purpose today...decided to take charge of your own fitness and did positive things to improve it.  If you did...congratulations!  If you didn't, you've got another chance tomorrow.  Don't waste it, friends.

Eat less...move more.  It works.  I promise you...it works!

It Took A Random Act of Kindness to Adjust My Perspective...

Hello, friends.  I know.  It's been awhile.  Several weeks, actually.  I am back.  I've decided to continue to be a blogger.  But I haven't been in touch.  Life has encroached on my free time...dealing with a lot of knee pain, doctor's appointments, working two jobs, reconstructing the house after the hurricane took my bedroom away from me.  It's been a long month, for sure!

But today, something happened that made my perspective shift a bit and I made the time to come tell you about it.  Because I hope that it's going to do the same for you...give you some pause, cause you to reassess your situation, and then change your outlook.

While taking my son to his job this morning, we decided to go to our favorite fast food restaurant...Chick-Fil-A to get some breakfast before his shift.  We waited in the drive thru lane, made our order, got our total, and then came to the window.  When we got there, it took a few minutes for the friendly staffer to take our payment because she was pressing a lot of buttons on the register.  Finally, she smiled at us and explained that the man who was two cars ahead of us paid extra for the cars behind him.  The woman in the car in front of me got her entire meal free!  We ended up getting about half of our meal free!  I was stunned...and immediately humbled.  What a wonderful blessing on a busy, busy shopping day for a random stranger to help others - to spend his money on others instead of himself.  Wow!

After sharing our meal together, Kev and I had a few minutes before his shift began, and I needed a new pair of shoes, so we decided to brave the mall on Black Friday and see what sales we could find.  I was so pleasantly surprised at the kindness of the shoppers and the store staff on such a hectic day.  And the shoes I found...wow!  I have horribly bad knees, as you know, and need really comfortable and supportive shoes to make walking even POSSIBLE, much less comfortable.  I found a shoe at Nike called Lunar Allways TR that feels like it was custom made for my foot!  It's wonderful!  The regular price was marked as $79.99, but were marked on sale for $54.99, which was a good enough sale in my mind.  But at the register, they rung up at $42.00.  Happy Black Friday sale day!  Door busters at Nike got an additional 30% off this morning!  Double WOW!!

So after shopping, Kevin went to go do his shift and I headed home, happy.  It was then I realized something that I think I've lost sight of for the past month or so.

I am blessed.  Truly, truly blessed.

You see, for the past month, I've just been muddling through life.  Dealing with things as they come up, trying hard to be happy.  Too hard, really.  It's been such an EFFORT to try to remain positive with the physical pain I've been dealing with.  Add on top of that the housing situation because of the flooding from the hurricane, my ridiculous work schedule, and parenting stresses, and you can imagine that smiling has been a little forced lately.

But it shouldn't be.  Ever.  I am RIDICULOUSLY blessed!!  And that has NOTHING to do with the things going my way today.  It also has nothing to do with things NOT going my way during the past stressful month.

God has not forgotten me.  He showed me that today, reminded me that I am still held in the palm of His hand, still the apple of His eye, still placed in life exactly where He wants and needs me to be right now - painful knees and all!  I just have to choose to see it that way.

And it's time to do what He made me to do...be a source of positivity and light for this world.  That's who I am at my core, and it's time to be that woman again.  No, it won't make my knees hurt less (although these lovely new shoes may help with that!).  No, it won't make my house get repaired more quickly. No, it won't put a lot of extra income in my budget this month to give the kind of gifts I'd like to give this Christmas.  But it WILL be fulfilling the purpose of my life.  It's time to pay the kindness I've been shown forward.  It's time to bless others as I have been blessed.  I just had to remember how truly blessed I am!

So, my challenge to myself in the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas is to practice an act of kindness for someone every day.  And I'm going to challenge you to do the same.  Remember how incredibly blessed you are.  Focus on what you have, not what you don't, and from your physical, emotional, and financial wealth of resources...bless others.

Are you up for it, friends?  Make this holiday season the best one you've had in a long time...use it to bless others!