Who’s That Hot Mama In The Window?
The other day I walked by a set of windows and glanced at my reflection. Whoa! Wait a minute… I had to do a double, then triple take and actually even went back to the reflection once I had passed by. I couldn’t believe what I thought when I saw my reflection.
I look good.
This image has not been Photoshopped! 🙂
Go ahead and chuckle if you must. Maybe that is something you think all the time, but that very rarely happens to me. I am hard on myself and always uber-self critical. It is difficult for me to acknowledge progress, instead I just keep wanting to see more and more results. I often think I don’t look good when I compare myself to others. Or, my perception of myself is skewed when I am slacking on my clean eating and workout schedule. This frame of mind doesn’t serve me well and isn’t the behavior I want to model for my girls.
I actually returned back to that window and took a picture to let myself acknowledge my hard work and truly appreciate the results I had achieved. As I type this I’m allowing my appreciation to grow. Not just for the image I have of myself, but for the life that I have. I am surrounded by love. I have a supportive husband, 4 amazing children, my health, an incredible extended family, caring friends and a fulfilling job. What more could a person need?
I guess the point I’m making here is that you don’t have to be a super model to appreciate how you look. Everyone has imperfections, but be able to pat yourself on your back for the hard work you have put in and the progress you have made, in anything you’re working towards.
I realized this week that I am exactly where I need to be in life. My tendency is to constantly push myself to grow and develop and get better. I’ve realized that I need to balance that with pausing to show my gratitude for what I have. How I plan to do this is by showing up and BEING FULLY PRESENT in the moment. Allowing this self-acknowledgement, pausing, appreciating and being present represents happiness, success and peace for me.
What do you need to acknowledge yourself for today? Think of something and share it in the comments if you like. You work hard and you deserve to be acknowledged for it!
featured image credit to Jimmy_Joe, used under Creative Commons license
