Six years ago, I would have sold my soul to hear that. I would have done anything to be skinny. So, why did those words irritate me so much today? All girls like to hear they look skinny, don't they? Well, this one doesn't. Not anymore. I don't want to be skinny. I don't even want to be thin. However, I like the word "lean". Craig Siebert asked me once if I " was working on my lean". Huh, that's one way to put it.
I know she didn't say the word skinny to hurt me. As we ran, I voiced my problem with the word skinny. I told her I wanted to give off healthy and strong. Definitely not skinny. We discussed how our perception of ourselves had changed over the last few years. It was totally different than in our 20's and 30's. My perception had done a 180. I did not have a weight problem until I was 30, sometime in 2000. It hit me really hard. I thought that I just needed to get skinny and skinny as quickly as possible. What I learned was, I really needed to be healthy. And, it wasn't going to happen quickly. It is real funny how your mind changes when you let your mind change you. Make sense?
I changed my mind from being skinny to being healthy. I recall dwelling on what the scale said. The scale was not my friend. The scale informed me if I was having a skinny day or a fat day.The scale set my tone for the day. My attitude was set by the number glaring back at me. However, the scale never told me how healthy I was. I am not a quitter, but I quit the scale. I began caring more about how I felt. I was no longer going to chase skinny. No longer chasing a number. I was going after something bigger. My health. Changing my mind set me free. Free of the nasty scale. Free to discover and eat healthy foods. Free to reeducate myself. And the freedom to concentrate on a healthy lifestyle. Once I freed myself the weight dropped off.
Once I let the idea of skinny go, it opened me up to being happy. Happy with myself. Happy with my body. Happy with my life. Happy with the positive direction I had taken. Health and happiness go hand in hand. Don't you agree?
I changed my mind from being skinny to being healthy. I recall dwelling on what the scale said. The scale was not my friend. The scale informed me if I was having a skinny day or a fat day.The scale set my tone for the day. My attitude was set by the number glaring back at me. However, the scale never told me how healthy I was. I am not a quitter, but I quit the scale. I began caring more about how I felt. I was no longer going to chase skinny. No longer chasing a number. I was going after something bigger. My health. Changing my mind set me free. Free of the nasty scale. Free to discover and eat healthy foods. Free to reeducate myself. And the freedom to concentrate on a healthy lifestyle. Once I freed myself the weight dropped off.
Once I let the idea of skinny go, it opened me up to being happy. Happy with myself. Happy with my body. Happy with my life. Happy with the positive direction I had taken. Health and happiness go hand in hand. Don't you agree?
I don't run or ride or anything else to be skinny, which is a good thing because I don't eat like a girl who's trying to be skinny. I do it because I love it, or at least love to be able to. That said, I'd LOVE for someone to refer to me as skinny. And if they thought that didn't mean strong, well, they wouldn't think that for long.
ReplyDeleteAMEN Sister!
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