Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Counting my Blessings

I am the first to admit that I don't always take the time to count my blessings.  A part of my personality is to stress over the things that don't go my way and it often means I overlook the things that are going well in my life.  Today, during a rough run it all sort of hit home for me so I decided I needed to make time for a blog post.  I needed to make time to appreciate some of my blessings.

MY FAMILY.  
I feel like the luckiest girl in the world when it comes to my family.  I am very close with my mom and consider her one of my best friends.  It is always a blessing for me when I get to go visit her, my dad, and my sister.  They live over 9 hours drive away, so our visits aren't as frequent as I would like but honestly I couldn't ask for a better more supportive family.  They are always there for me and lift me up when I am doubting myself and my abilities.

Then of course, there are my husband and my kids.  They are there for me at every race, they are my cheerleaders and my race photographers.  They are tolerant of me being lazy after a long run and do whatever they can to help me.  Running is not a cheap sport, especially when you are running races.  My husband is amazing and has always supported my running endeavors.  If there is a race I want to do, he does everything in his power to make sure I can do it.  My daughter is 5 and has started to really show a love for the sport, I am not sure if its just to be like Mommy or because she loves it, but we are going to nurture it as long as we can.  She is currently running mileage for a kids marathon that she will be completing in September.  The only way it could get any better would be if my husband would take up running too... although, then what would we do about race babysitting? :)

MY HEALTH.
When I started my journey I was terribly out of shape, I couldn't play with my kids, and had high blood pressure.  I feel so blessed to have found a healthy lifestyle, its made all the difference in the world for me. I have lost around 120ish pounds and found a new appreciation for physical activity and healthy eating.  90% of the time I am very proud of myself for my diet and exercise routine.  I no longer have high blood pressure and I am able to do things I never dreamed possible.  I am grateful that despite a few bumps along the road I have been able to pretty much maintain my weight loss for over a year now.  I would love to lose a few more pounds, but at the end of the day I am trying to just count my blessings.  I never thought I would see "one"derland again....

MY DETERMINATION.
This is a blessing that I never thought I could "count."  I always have high hopes and big plans, I work hard to  make them come true but eventually it tends to fade away.  That's not to say I am a quitter, because I never have been.  But, nothing has ever meant as much to me as this journey does.  There have been several times I have slipped up along this journey.  Gaining back 10-15 pounds, eating crappy food, slacking on my work outs.  Yet, I never let myself slip too far.  There are days that I don't want to work out, when I want to eat the comfort foods my 300 pound self had grown to love.  And honestly, I let myself have those days.  Without them, I don't think I would be where I am today.  It means more to me to live life than to meet a certain number on the scale.  If a two week vacation with family means I gain 5-10 pounds, SO WHAT... I can lose it pretty easily.  At the end of they day, I am more determined than ever to be a happy healthy Mom to my kids and that makes all the difference in the world.  I may stumble, but I refuse to fall!

MY FRIENDS.
I don't have many "local" friends.  I have recently started to struggle with self-confidence issues and when in social situations I always worry that people are talking about me or wish I wasn't there (working on it, I promise) - so I honestly avoid many social situations right now.  However, I could not be where I am today without the support of my many friends, most of them are "virtual" friends that I have never met, a few are local, and several are friends from my college years.  They may not have any clue how much their support means to me, but without them I would be nothing.  So, to those who have supported me along the way - I owe it all to you, so THANK YOU!

Of course, there are many more blessings in my life, but these are the four that hit home tonight so that's it for now.  I hope to do a blog post soon with my a fundraising giveaway! 

What are you grateful for today? 

1 comment:

  1. This is a really sweet and heartfelt post Jenn. You are definitely very blessed!

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