Time for a personal story that led to a pretty good life lesson.  Don’t you love when those happen?  This weekend my husband, Adam, and I headed to my parents house to help them clean out their garage.  After the day was done and my dad was taking us back to the train station to head home, we stopped to drop off some garbage and my dad introduced us to one of his clients.  As we were talking the conversation turned to health and my dad started telling his client all the things that I had accomplished health wise over the past few years.  At first I kind of just brushed it off, my dad loves talking to anyone about his kids and he is always telling them how great we are.  I think that is a job requirement when you become a dad, you love to brag about your children.  But as we were headed home I started to think about all the things he said about me.  The list seemed pretty impressive.  I had forgotten how far I had come when I first started, and that I was too quick to shrug off my accomplishments.

How many times do we do that?  We get so wrapped up in the day to day and fail to see all the miles we have traveled.  I feel this is especially true when it comes to our health.  For the first time yesterday, I realized that over the course of 5 or 6 years I have lost a total of about 60 pounds.  That is kind of a huge thing but I always downplay it.  Yeah I lost 60 pounds but it’s over a long period of time.  Earth to Katie, 60 pounds is no drop in the bucket.  I went from never running ever, and hating it as well, to wanting to run every single day and truly enjoying long 10 mile runs.  I went from barely being able to touch my toes to easily finding balance in some difficult yoga poses.  I feel at ease in the kitchen and enjoy spending time coming up with healthy ways to prepare delicious food.  I’ve started a health blog and have shared my story with the internet, something that I would never have thought I would do 5 years ago.  I have really done a lot and I need to give myself props for doing all of that stuff!

Many of us feel uncomfortable patting ourselves on the back when we do something awesome.  We’re quick to turn down compliments and say oh it was nothing.  We forget how hard it was to start being healthier and how much work it took to get to the place we are today.  That needs to stop.  I’m not saying you should go out and brag to every person you meet about all your accomplishments.  You do need to work on accepting compliments and recognizing all the hard work you’ve put in.  Even if you just started, give yourself a hand for taking that first step.  That’s not an easy decision to make and you deserve to be proud of that choice.

It’s difficult to take the healthy route.  It’s easy to fail at better choices.  It’s more comfortable to just stick with what you know and never step outside of your comfort zone.  So when you do decide to do all of those things, take the time to give yourself a round of applause.  It doesn’t have to be shouted on the rooftops to the world below, a quiet moment will do.  Taking pride in all you have done will help keep you motivated and keep you on road to better health.  And when you see someone who might be struggling with their own journey, take a moment to remind them of all the great things they have accomplished so far!