New Year, New Perspective

At the beginning of every year, I usually reset my intentions to eating healthy and getting my body stronger. I start out January strong (along with the rest of the world), feeling motivated and dedicated to making this year the best yet. But then February or even March rolls in and I’m barely keeping it together. By then, I’m back to my old habits of making excuses and half-assing what I set out to do in the first place. Like I’ve said before, I’m not the unhealthiest person out there, but I’ve never been the best version of myself from an external point of view.

For the past 4 years I’ve been so focused on giving the best life to my family. After losing our firstborn son Harry (read about his story here), I dove into being the best mom to our subsequent children with my whole heart and soul. Obviously, I meant to over-compensate for the time we could not have with Harry. Two years later, I have no regrets but perhaps it is time to make more time for my well-being. I’ve learned that I can only be the best mother, if I am the best Me.

So, this year I have decided that in order for me to be healthy externally, I have to change what’s on the inside.  I consistently derail and sabotage my progress towards becoming the person I want to become every-single-time, because I don’t have the same empathy for myself as I do for others. I am hard on myself, and I tell myself to suck it up and keep going. My self-talk can be so negative at times, with the purpose to provide motivation to push harder to reach my goals. This has been my go-to survival mechanism my whole life. Although, I am grateful for all the things I’ve been able to accomplish thus far because of it, it is clear to me now that it is also holding me back.

I owe it to myself to be kinder to me, as I am with my daughters. I need to forgive my missteps and learn from them, instead of beating myself up for making a mistake in the first place. I need to encourage myself and my husband in the same way I do our daughters, we both deserve to be each other’s loudest, and kindest cheerleaders.

In the last few weeks in shifting my perspective, I can already feel a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders. I now confront challenges without expecting perfect results. I encourage myself to resolve those challenges to the best of my abilities. I’m content with these results because I did what I could with the resources and knowledge I had at the time. Life and parenting are both about learning new things each day, and perhaps repeating the same mistakes a few times, but learning from them eventually.

With that said, I challenge you to do the same. Look introspectively and ask yourself, what’s holding you back from being your best you?

❤Be Healthy Mami