TUT: How’s Your Balance?

Jennifer — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:29:00 +0000

A Google search of ‘Tune Up’ revealed the following definition:
An Adjustment for Better Functioning
A search of ‘Adjustment’ revealed the following:
A Small Change, A Minor Correction, A Modification

What is Tune-Up Tuesday? Find out more HERE!

Last week was the introduction to the Healthier You (Me!) Challenge. This post wasn’t the one that I had thought it would be. It was supposed to be on weight and our bodies. As I was contemplating what it means to be healthy, I realized that it has a lot to do with healthy thinking!

Photo by Dia

What does it mean to have a healthy attitude? I searched on Google but couldn’t find a definitive answer I found some sites that described a healthy attitude as optimistic, and though I think that is part of it, I don’t think that properly encompasses the idea. I think that a healthy attitude is all about BALANCE (as is everything in life!). When it comes to our self-image, balancing optimism, realism, contentment and discontentment are all essential!

Contentment and Discontentment
Each one of us has been blessed with certain aspects of ourselves that are unchangeable. God, in His infinite wisdom, made each of us different for a specific reason. To have a healthy attitude about ourselves, we need to be content with those unchangeable distinctions!
However, there are many things about me that I can change. I need to have a healthy amount of discontentment with those areas if I am to change them. If you and I are completely content where we are in all areas, there will be no growth, no change, nothing to strive for, nothing to gain and no motivation to be any healthier.

Optimism and Realism
I’m an optimist! Sometimes it drives my DH crazy. lol. But optimism cal also lead to trouble. It can set you up for failures and disappointments that need not have been there (I know!!). As we take steps to become healthier, we need to be optimistic AND realistic about outcome of the goals, changes and activities that you and I undertake. We need to step out of our comfort zones with optimism and try new things but we also need to be realistic and take into consideration who we are and what we specifically are capable of. We need to understand our strengths, weaknesses and limitations when it comes to physical appearance, weight and ability.

My Ulterior Motive
While I think a good self-image is important all on it’s own for general health and happiness, when I had my daughter, it suddenly became even more important to me to cultivate it. Why? Because my daughter is beautiful and healthy. I ask her, “Who is my beautiful girl?” and she giggles and yells, “Chloe"! Each morning she twirls and tells me she’s a ballerina. When she passes herself in the mirror she smiles. She is beautiful on the inside and out. She runs, leaps, twirls and plays. At 2 1/2, she has boundless energy. Her ideas what is beautiful and what is healthy are coming primarily from me because mommy’s have unbelievable influence on their daughters. There are too many beautiful young ladies out there who sullenly look in the mirror and hate what they see. They buy into the medias’ idea of what is beautiful but healthy doesn’t enter the picture. I don’t want my beautiful Chloe to ever think she is anything but beautiful. I want to teach her that a beautiful woman is one who is content with herself, one who is strong and fit; with energy and vigor to meet each days’ challenges and ready, always ready with a smile and the energy for the next adventure.

To teach that, I need to BE that! And it all starts with the attitude. I need to first evaluate my ideas of healthy and discard anything that doesn’t fit the bill. Then we need to turn our ‘wish’ list into a ‘to-do’ list by analyzing everything on our wish list. Is it practical? Is it beneficial? Is it really possible and within my ability? How does it affect my family? What will my family’s reaction be? You get the point!

My Partial Wish List:

~~To be the same weight as I was when I got married~~ isn’t practical and it isn’t healthy for me to try to get back there.
To lose 10% of my body weight is recommended by doctors as a great start to becoming healthier and can reduce your chances of heart problems.
~~To only eat food we grow ourselves organically~~ may work for some, but for our family at this time, it isn’t practical since we grow absolutely nothing. (Big garden plans didn’t turn out this year…try again next year!)
To eat as fresh as possible is definitely attainable. We’ve been visiting the farmers’ market every week and incorporate lots of fruits and veggies.
~~To be able to run a mile or a marathon~~ is far too ambitious for me, having not run in the past decade!
But to start, I’m walking twice a week with my neighbor. We’ll talk more about this next week though.

So in conclusion, a healthy self-image has little to do with what you weigh and a whole lot to do with choice. A choice to accept and be content with what you can’t change (and make the most of it!), a choice to take action to change those things which are in your power to, or a choice to do nothing!

No new concepts here, just some gentle reminders to us all, myself included!

Do you have a tune-up you are working on or completed? Link up (directly to your post) or share a comment! If you could mention TUT and link back so others can join in too, that would be appreciated!

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Jenn is wife to one, mother of three and above all, a humble servant seeking to honor the Lord with her life. TUT: How’s Your Balance? is a post from Beautiful Calling.

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TUT: How’s Your Balance?