I have been feeling rather dumpy lately. My legs hurt, I have gained back some weight, I hadn't worked out in 3 weeks. I just plain haven't been feeling it. Today was my first day back at the gym in 3 weeks and it took everything in me to pull into that parking lot, change clothes, fill up my water bottle, and start my workout. The reason for my absence? Well, I was sick for a week, my shoulder hurt the next week, and the week after that was just laziness. I felt every bit of it today, too. That was one of my most difficult workouts, mentally and physically.
So, in the interest of keeping myself going, here are 5 things I love about myself no matter my weight!
1. My Eyes. I think that I have very pretty eyes. I have long eyelashes and my eyebrows are even and filled out. They are thinning a bit, as everyone's does as you age, but not a lot. They are arched perfectly over my eye. I think my eyes are expressive, too. You can usually see a lot within them.
2. I am tall. I am 5'10" and I love being this height. I can reach pretty much anything I may need from higher shelves and I carry my weight well. Plus, it comes in handy if you are feeling confident, because sometimes with my height and weight, I intimidate people. I'm not saying I like intimidating everyone, but it definitely has its perks in certain situations. I can help people at the grocery store, too. My favorite part of being tall is being super tall in high heels. I'm lucky my husband is 6'2", so even in heels, he's still usually taller than I am.
3. I have great hair. It's naturally wavy, thick, and glossy. I rarely use product in my hair and I don't often color it or use heat on it. That keeps it looking very shiny and healthy. It's wavy enough that I can diffuse it into curls or straighten it fairly easily. I just got a bunch of blonde highlights in it and chopped it for the summer and it looks great! I also look good with longer hair, though I don't keep it long very much anymore. I am definitely getting some grays, but they actually blend in pretty well.
4. I have a lot of scars that remind me that I'm a survivor. I have scars from open and closed heart surgeries, my pacemaker surgery, and scars where they put tubes in my stomach as a baby. I have scars on my hands from burns and cuts and scars from a bike wreck when I was in 5th grade. They define me in a way that nothing else can. They show that I have lived and been hurt and gotten up and dusted myself off and kept going. As a child, I was asked a lot about my zipper on my chest and I never remember feeling bad about it. I was proud. It made me different. It made me feel strong.
5. I like my brain. There are a lot of things about it that drive me crazy, like its need to obsess over little things and the endless counting of ALL THE THINGS, but it stores quite a bit of information. My brothers tease me that I'm only 'trivia smart' and while I agree that I know a lot of useless knowledge, I know that I'm not stupid. I pick directions and hobbies up very quickly. Once you show me something, I don't usually have to ask how to do it again. I have phone numbers stored in my brain from YEARS ago. (I still know all my good friends' phone numbers from when we were kids as well as my library card number from my hometown library.) I still know Mark Antony's soliloquy from Julius Caesar and I have a vast inventory of 90s songs, titles and artists, in my brain. I have pretty good critical thinking skills and great short-term memory. (That was helpful in high school for a lot of tests in which I studied 20 minutes ahead of time and passed the test with flying colors.) My brain is big and beautiful, just like me.
I'm sure this random 5 was boring to a lot of you and may seem braggy, but I truly believe positive self-talk is crucial in making things happen. I don't like feeling down and dumpy and with my anxiety, sometimes I feel like I have no choice. Today, though? Today I have a choice and my big, beautiful brain is telling me that I have a lot of good things going on. I will chip away at the weight gain, little by little, and I will conquer more major steps in my journey. I hope all of you take the time to be body positive today, too. There's lots to love about all of us, so come on, tell me your best feature below!
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