Author: Laura Kump

I'm on a mission to reclaim my health. Life and a high stress job led me to forming many unhealthy habits, leaving me living in fear for my future self. Using a science based plan, I made small changes that have helped me achieve better health and fitness and put me on the path to meet my goals. As a certified health coach, I make healthy living accessible for all by keeping it simple. Many times health can feel overly complicated, but I've found ways to show people that small targeted changes can empower them to live healthier lifestyles. For instance, traffic light eating can totally change your lives. Knowledge is a super power and I look forward to sharing it with you.

Run like Shalane

This is the last of my three part series in which I’ve shared what I’ve learned during my twenty week training plan for an upcoming half marathon.  I’ve drawn some connections between this training and teaching, because as an educator these are the things I think about.

This week’s long run was twelve miles, so I had a lot of time to think.  I was focused on the strategies I was using to make it through the run when the going got tough.  I quickly realized my strategies were those familiar to educators, one of which I typically am not a fan of.   This run gave me a new perception as to how the strategy could possibly be used with students.

Two things I’ve noticed over the past weeks are: 1) Running is easier when you find a rhythm; and 2) Visualizing and self talk can help you find that rhythm.  It often takes me some time to find my rhythm on a run, but once I do it feels so natural and smooth.  It’s a feeling of your body working in tandem,  your legs, arms and breath are all moving you along fluidly.  You often feel like you could continue on in this way forever.  It’s not always easy to find that rhythm and one of the strategies I use to get there is to visualize what I’m seeking.  I often picture Shalane Flanagan whom I watched intently running during the Olympics.  I clearly saw an example of someone running with rhythm during her beautiful marathon run.  On my long runs, I use self talk to say, “Run like Shalane” (albeit without the skinny body and lovely little shorts) and visualize myself running as I saw her do it.  I also remind myself to use those darn glute muscles when I tire and find myself relying too heavily on my quads.  That self talk sounds like, “Use your ass you ass.” and I visualize pushing through with those powerful glutes.  Once I hit the feeling of running in rhythm I continue visualizing looking like Shalane as I run to maintain it.

There are portions of my run, discussed last week as the wall, where the going can get tough.  Today it hit around mile 9 and I knew I had a long way to go to reach my target.  I kept going back to these strategies and filling my mind with them.  They helped me continue on by filling my head with positive self talk, essentially staving off negative thoughts of pain and discomfort.  They also helped provide me with a strong focus on what I was trying to achieve.

Now, I’ve never been a huge fan of using visualization in an educational setting.  Part of the reason for that was the way I often saw it used.  Teaching children merely to draw what they see when reading is not enough to employ the true power of this strategy.  Yes, it is a way to show children in a concrete manner that we all bring our personal schema to the table when reading and our perspectives can be quite different, but this in and of itself is not the true purpose of visualization.  Through my time spent “running like Shalane”, I’ve come to understand better the power of visualization.  In this context, it was about knowing what I was trying to achieve and imagining myself doing it.  This process strongly focused me on the work at hand.  Imagining my glutes powering me up a hill truly enabled me to feel them as I was so focused on that part of my body.  Imagining I’m moving like Shalane gave me strong concrete imagery of what it should look like.

My thoughts on this run were that the rhythm of running can be equated to the rhythms of learning, which in my mind are found in consistency of instruction.  When you find your rhythm during a run the movement becomes fluid.  When teaching our students, we need to provide them opportunities to find their rhythm to become fluid learners.  The best way I can think of to accomplish this is to be very consistent and intentional in our instructional approaches.  Providing clarity to students of the learning expectations and end goals of instructional units is critical.  If we constantly introduce new information, change direction, or rush through curriculum our students are deprived of the opportunity to find the rhythm of learning.  Instead, they are left expending their energies trying to make sense of what they are learning and figuring out how it all connects, if at all.   Keeping our instruction clear, organized, connected and relevant will help ensure they find their rhythm and get into the zone of purposeful learning.  I believe it would improve engagement exponentially as well.

Two strategies I relieved heavily on to find my running rhythm were self talk and visualizing.  In order to get students to utilize these strategies in an educational setting, they need to clearly know what their end goals are.  These questions must drive our instructional planing to provide our students with purpose and relevance – 1) What am I learning?, 2) Why am I learning this? and 3) How is this learning relevant to my life?   Providing exemplars, as in my case Shalane Flanagan did, gives students concrete examples of what they are trying to achieve.  These exemplars should come in many forms including written models, visual models and whenever possible examples of people who are utilizing the learning in the real world.

Self talk can provide our students with both focus and perseverance when the going gets tough.  It could help them stick with tasks that are challenging and enable them to feel the joy of that aha moment when they “get it”.  I believe it would also help boost our students’ self esteem and make them more willing to engage in the learning process, which at times can seem so daunting.  Positive self talk can be taught to all kids, even our youngest learners.  Perhaps it can offset and crowd out those negative thoughts that fill the minds of so many today.

The best part about these strategies is they are not restricted only to use for running, or teaching.  They are life skills that can be used to support you in almost any situation.  Dieting is one simple example I will use to illustrate this.  When you are dieting you can, and should, heavily rely on positive self talk and visualization.  Focusing in on your end results and visualizing yourself there can be extremely helpful.  People have always placed a photograph on their refrigerators, why not imagine yourself instead.  Getting in a rhythm of food prepping and eating will certainly help you reach your goals. When you really think about it, it all feels so simple, as it should.  One step and day at a time.

 

 

 

 

Drive

I’ve been wondering what makes me get out of bed and hit the pavement when it’s still dark out and most people are sleeping.  In rain, and cold I’m out there.  Some might be quick to say it’s my passion for running.  While I agree there is some level of passion for running that drives me, I know there’s more to it than that.  That’s surely the obvious answer, but anyone who runs knows that passion wanes rather quickly when pain and discomfort of the long run sets in.  The same can be said about dieting to lose weight, passion for that surely wanes when the scale fails to move.  I’ve thought a lot about why I do what I do, especially this morning when on the first block of my run I had pain in my bad leg.  What was it that pushed me to continue running and complete the full 2 hours and 10 minutes planned for this morning?  It would have been so easy to go back home and climb back in bed.  Surely my pushing through today didn’t have anything to do with passion.  It was most definitely about grit, mental toughness and drive.

So, what actually motivates me then?  Well, anyone whose read Alfie Kohn’s, Punished by Rewards, knows intrinsic motivation is more of a driving force.    Extrinsic motivation really only works for so long and lord knows it’s not the race medal that motivates me, though they are pretty.  If I had to say what motivates me, I’d have to say it’s the drive to succeed and that is most definitely intrinsic.  But, even motivation and drive alone are not enough to carry me through the miles after I hit what’s often referred to as the “wall”.  The wall, or that moment when I feel like I’m wearing concrete shoes and can’t possibly go another step, I’m not feeling very motivated.  So what is it really that keeps me moving?

I believe it’s my drive to succeed at anything I set out to accomplish.  I refuse to quit or give up on anything I want to do.  It’s the thrill of the conquering that motivates me, which is kind of similar in shopping terms to the thrill of the hunt.  I am driven by the belief that I can and will accomplish anything I seek to do.  When I get something in my head that I want to do, I keep plugging along until I get it done.  It’s never easy, but I live for the adrenaline rush of trying.

This morning I wondered, how can we teach this type of mental mindset to our young students.  How can we teach them to push through even if it’s hard, or they fail at their first attempts?  There’s tons of research out there on this topic, but I wanted to connect these questions to what I’ve learned through my training for this marathon.  I believe for me the true reason I keep going out there and running is found in my drive to succeed.  I am self-motivated yes, but I’ve also set up systems to keep pushing me along.  I believe these systems, when employed, keep me going and could definitely be taught to kids.

First, let’s look at motivation.  Motivation is definitely part of the equation, but it has to come from within.  Lose the stickers and rewards and you’ll have better success keeping students motivated long term.  You might save some money and time here too.  In my training plan, I am motivated by the tracker found in my Strava and Map My Run apps.  These trackers analyze my run for me and provide me with lots of glorious feedback to get excited about.  For example, when you run the same route repeatedly it does a great comparison.  I love to see the message – “trending faster ‘- pop up when I’m done.  I also like to see the miles increasing.  For students, we can set up these types of systems easily.  For instance, teach them to self-monitor their progress toward meeting goals.  They too can watch their growth over time and gain motivation from their progress.  The reward is found in growth over time, not the sticker!  Couple this with providing lots of feedback along the way.  Feedback is highly motivational and will keep them on track toward meeting their goals.  There’s truly nothing less motivating than doing the same thing wrong over and over again.  The outcome never changes and the efforts begin to feel like a total waste of time.  These feelings often lead to the “why bother” syndrome.

Now let’s look at grit and the ability to push through when giving up seems the easier option.  One thing I did with this training plan was to make my journey public.  I set a goal, shared it publicly and set up systems for holding myself accountable.  To increase accountability,  I joined a community of runners who have goals similar to mine.  We hold each other accountable, and when we have those dark moments we push each other out the door.  There is most definitely a desire to not disappoint this community.  Their successes motivate me, as I’m sure mine do them.  This idea can easily be set up for students, yet is often not valued as a critical component of learning.  Students must be connected to a community of learners.  They should be taught to support each other on their journey toward meeting common goals.  They should be celebrating personal victories along the way and pushing each other when the going gets tough.  Most times this doesn’t happen as many classrooms are not set up that way.  Teachers who take the time to create a positive learning community will notice the difference it truly makes.  I can tell you without my TLAM tribe I might have rolled over a few mornings.  Knowing my peers were part of my journey pushed me to get out there.  Students are highly motivated by interactions with their peers.  They may not mind disappointing us from time to time, but they surely do not want to disappoint their peers.

All of these ideas are not limited to running, or education.  They are life skills that would benefit anyone on a quest to accomplish any goal, including becoming more healthy.

  1. Find something you want to accomplish that you enjoy, or are passionate about accomplishing.
  2. Set long term goals for yourself and track your progress toward meeting them over time (Use data sources to track)
  3. Share your goals publicly to create levels of accountability
  4. Practice and practice some more
  5. Join and be an active participant in a community of people who have similar goals (social media or live) to create another level of accountability
  6. Share your goals with the community and celebrate all victories along the way
  7. Lift each other up in dark times
  8. If you don’t make it the first time, try and try again.

I hope you meet your goals.  Me, I’m in the midst of my third try to get there.  In just four short weeks I will get the chance to try again and I can’t wait!

Feedback

Today was my long run and boy was it hot out there on the roads.  This was my longest run on the schedule so far and it provided me plenty of time to think.  The focus of the run was time on my feet, so two hours and forty minutes was on the plan.  This run wasn’t about pace, but rather mental toughness and stamina.

When I run, I always think about the training plan I’m using and the parallels it has to education.  Yes, educators think about things education when they run, shocking I know.  This past week, I was sharing with my colleague some of the parallels I’m seeing between my running plan and teaching.  Today, I was framing out this week’s blog in my mind and decided to share my thoughts on the connections between being #coachedandloved and teaching.

Many of you know by now I’m training for a half marathon in October and hopefully the full NYC Marathon in 2017.  What you may not know is that I’ve been training for this half for years.  This is my third attempt to get there, so nobody can say I’m not persistent.  Twice before I’ve tried to get there and twice before I’ve crashed and burned.  This time, I was determined to make it so I decided to try something different.  I decided to join a running group and work with a coach.  Best darn decision I ever made and best darn money I ever spent.  I have learned so much about myself, running and yes, even education.

When I first started working with Coach MK, I was speaking to her about my history.  I then launched into the usual self doubt that maybe I’m just not cut out to run a half.  Maybe I’m too old, too physically unfit, all the usual self deprecation.  Well she cut me right off and actually yelled at me.  She said stuff like, “Don’t you dare start with that crap.  What would you tell a kid in your school that said this stuff?   How dare you quit on me before we even started working together.  You haven’t even tried and you’re already giving up?”  And on it went.  She was definitely NOT taking any of my whining, or any of my excuses not to try. Man, she was really going to make me do this.  In connecting this to education, I’d call her approach – high expectations for all learners.  There was absolutely not one moment that this coach didn’t believe I could do it and she told me so.  She was not going to dummy down the curriculum for me, or let me have a pass.  She was going to make me work my butt off to get there or die trying.  She was firm, but I wasn’t put off by it.  I was motivated to get out there and try again, most likely because I knew she believed in me.

Then, I started following the plan she laid out for me.  She wanted me to run within a heart rate target cap of 140.  When I went out the first day, I got to my corner and I was already above 140.  WTF is going on here?  I remember walking most of that first run.  This isn’t running I thought, this is ridiculous.  How in the world is walking going to help me finish a half marathon in twenty weeks?  Why is my heart rate so darn uncooperative?  And, I can’t wait to get home to complain to her about this.  This isn’t going to work!  There’s no way I can slow down to go faster.  Ridiculous.  Connecting to education, so many of our teachers feel the pressure of racing through curriculum to fit it all into the ten month time span.  There is hardly time to slow down because they feel they have to cram it all into their students heads.  After all, they are responsible for “covering” the curriculum.  Teach, teach, teach and teach.  But what about the kids?  Are they on the path to learn?  Or, are they on the path to crash and burn like I did?  I’d say many are on the path to crash and burn because there is no way they can deeply learn all that stuff in the short span of ten months.  Well, not in a meaningful way that would allow them to apply it to new situations.

I remember calling Coach MK again and saying this isn’t going to work.  There’s no way I can walk to improve my running.  She explained to me the reasons it would work.  The reasons were based in scientific research and had proven results with many runners.  You see, by pushing my body to do things it wasn’t ready to do I was harming myself not helping myself.  This explained my constant state of injury.  I needed to work within this heart rate cap to build my foundation for running.  I needed to run in the “just right” zone for my heart and my body, not run in some preconceived notion of what it should be.  I needed to develop my heart and muscles and aerobic systems.  The connection of this one to education is simple, kids need to be doing work that is on their level at that moment in time.  Reading text that is too complex, or attempting to complete work that is too hard will not benefit students.  They need to develop their reading brains and other muscles.  If they don’t, they will not make progress and could likely give up.

During these past fifteen weeks, my coach has supported me in many ways.  I have worked on my stamina, endurance, strength and mental toughness.  She didn’t dump all that stuff on me, direct teach me up front, or talk at me.  Rather, she gave me a plan to follow for twenty weeks and set up a system in which she’d provide me feedback.  She set up a learning community of runners and gave us a space to ask questions.  Boy did we all have a lot of questions!  Each question provided more information about our bodies and this journey.  Had she told us all this stuff upfront, I’d likely not remember any of it.  But because I got the information as I needed it, it resonated with me and I can teach it to others.  For example, the first time I asked why my legs felt heavy when I run sometimes we had the nutrition talk.  Fueling? You mean the fact that I hate vegetables has an impact on my running?  Seriously, I’ve been to many nutritionists and none of them got me to eat vegetables.  But as soon as I realized it was causing me to struggle with running I began eating more of them.  When my heart rate was spiking and we had the sleep talk I realized how everything was impacting my performance.  This is the critical shift I’ve been trying to get at work – responsive teaching.  Teaching kids what they need to move forward not when it’s on your map, but when they need it.  Not an easy shift, but one that would totally change the level of impact you have on your students.  I’m living proof!  Teaching children to ask questions and seek answers.  But not narrow the focus of those questions to just the immediate task they are performing.  Teach them to ask big questions, questions of which the answers will propel them forward.  Create a plan for learning and set them out on their own a bit.  Provide tons of feedback and then more feedback and they will improve.

Finally, I’m learning a lot about myself with the goal of being more in tune with what my body needs to perform.  Why don’t we teach children to be more reflective?  Why don’t we give them the skills they need to learn?  It would be far more effective than trying to just teach them the things we know.  Slow down, set up learning plans for them and allow them to muddle through.  Provide them feedback on their progress and answer their questions about the process.  My coach doesn’t run with me ever.  I’m out there alone trudging along, yet I haven’t missed a single run.  She set up my plan and I follow it independently, asking questions and getting information on a need to know basis.  I truly believe there is a strong parallel here to teaching with common core learning standards.  I’ll continue to reflect on this during my runs this week.

 

Fall Back

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, the song associated with September and back to school time.  As a school Principal, I am blessed that in September my empty building once again is filled with the joyful sounds of children.  Those empty halls will be bustling again with the business of learning.

Unfortunately, another change to come is the amount of daylight I’ll have.  Soon my morning runs will be devoid of light and drowning in darkness.  Not much that can be done to change that.  In the past  I would very shortly begin skipping my workouts and huddling under those warm covers promising to workout after work.    But, alas that workout never seemed to happen.  Just because summer is over doesn’t mean my active lifestyle has to end.  It truly doesn’t have to be that way.

Make a pact today with yourself that you will continue on this journey.  I have already done so.  Don’t let those excuses creep back in and sidetrack you.   You know the excuses well, as do I.  Let’s take a look at the biggest ones and set up a plan to offset them.

First, I don’t have time anymore now that I’m back in a full schedule.  Well, there are 168 hours in a week.  You work 40 and sleep an average of 56, if you’re lucky.    That leaves about 72 hours.  Now, is it really true you have no time to keep exercising?   I work out at least one hour a day six days a week.  That’s only 6 hours a week minimum, which leaves me with 66 glorious hours to do whatever I want or need to do.

The second and probably the most common excuse is, I don’t have the energy to workout.   Well, first of all working out increases your energy levels so please don’t quit or you’ll have even less!

The absolute best way to offset both of these excuses is to do your workouts first thing in the morning.  This truly works, trust me.  Your energy levels are at their highest in the morning, especially if you’ve slept well (I wish).  You’ll feel energized to face your day and you won’t be drained from a full day of work.  Anytime I tried to workout after work it just didn’t happen.  I was way too tired and just wanted to get home to eat and relax.   Put your workout on your calendar and set that alarm.   After the first three weeks it will be your new habit.

I workout every morning by myself.  It’s a habit I will not give up.  I’m not going to lie and say it’s always easy.  It’s a commitment to myself that I’ve made.  With the dark mornings and possible bad weather coming I will double down my efforts to stay on track.   I hope you’ll do the same.

 

 

Delayed Gratification

We live in a world that’s moving so fast.  Anything we want is right there at our fingertips.  If you buy something on Amazon, and you can buy anything there, chances are you may receive it that same day.  People have become so accustomed to getting what they want in this buy now, pay later world.

Everything is also disposable.  When I was growing up families had one car.  Generally they kept it until it didn’t run anymore.  The only phone we had was on the wall in our kitchen and it had a rotary dial and a wire.  We had one television in the house in the living room.  Nowadays, cars are changed like underwear and almost every person has their own cellphone.  Appliances and TVs are replaced every other year.

With all this, it’s no surprise that I fell victim to this – I want it and I want it now mentality.  Click I buy a book, click my groceries are coming, click a new pair of shoes and on and on it goes.

When I signed up for coaching for my half marathon, the coach talked to me about running in certain heart rate zones.  She said I’d need to stay under 140 initially.  Ha, half a block from my house I was at that.  She said progress would come over time.  I’d have to trust the plan and put in the work and in twenty weeks I’d see growth and run my race.  Twenty weeks!!!!  Isn’t there a click or app for that??

Well, this morning on my long run I had lots of time to reflect on this journey.  I’m in week 13 and running 10 miles.  Darn she was right. Putting in the work and trusting the process had paid off.  This all made me wonder when I stopped believing that.

I was raised  on hard work pays off. I worked my butt off as did my husband to raise our three kids.  Why then when it came to my health was I always looking for the quick fix.  I knew in my heart you had to put the work in, but it was so much easier to seek the magic fix, or worse quit when it got hard.

This morning I realized it’s about delayed gratification.  The ability to delay gratification until the work is done is critical to perseverance.  Trusting that if you put the effort and work in, over time you will see results.  I’m not talking miracles, I’m talking results.  So for me today, I finally cracked 10 miles.   It wasn’t fast or beautiful but I did it.  This week my nutritional choices were on par and I felt stronger out there.  My scale hasn’t shown tremendous losses, but I’m feeling healthier.  This work is paying off.

I’m not going to say it’s easy.  It’s definitely not.  When I’m running slowly and someone speeds by, I want to say forget this heart rate and take off.  When someone offers me pizza for lunch and I want it now, but know I just had it for dinner last night, I have to dig in and say no thank you.  I have to stay the course and in time I’ll reach my goals.

I’m definitely in it for the long haul.  If I want to see changes I’ve got to put in the work.  Hope you’ll join me.  I’ve got a feeling it will be so worth it.

Run Fast Eat Slow

Laura Kump's avatarLAURA'S BOOK BLOG

Run Fast. Eat Slow.: Nourishing Recipes for Athletes

I heard about this book through my running group before the Olympics started.  I’d never heard of Shalane Flanagan, but the premise of this book spoke to me.  Who doesn’t want to run fast and lord knows I need to learn how to eat slow.

Eating slow in this book doesn’t meant put your fork down between bites. Gosh that’s so boring and unrealistic, at least for me.  Eating slow, rather means sitting down at a table, preferably with those you love and eating a home cooked vs fast food meal.  Well amen to that.  I am a huge fan of home cooking and thankfully love to cook.  The biggest obstacle for me is time.  Thankfully the recipes in this book are simple, quick, delicious and healthy.  Sounds like a winning combination and it truly is.

Elyse and Shalane are both runners…

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I Got This

Everybody wants a best friend, someone to talk them through the challenges life throws at them.  On my early run today, I found myself wishing there was someone there beside me to talk to,  especially  when my foot started to hurt.  Then I realized there was someone and  in fact there always is.  I was there.  I realized I could be my own best friend and face this challenge.

Now, if I’m being honest, I’m not always very kind to myself.  In fact, I’m often my own worst critic.  I’m very self-deprecating and can be very mean to myself at times.  I’m sure I’m not alone in that.  How many times have you chided yourself for being too fat, too pale, too slow or any other put down that came to mind in the moment?

I’ve spent a lot of time these past weeks watching the Olympic Games in Rio.  I’ve noticed many of those athletes deep in thought prior to their performances.  Some were even talking to themselves.  I’m sure they weren’t telling themselves everything that was wrong at that critical moment.  Rather than putting themselves down, they were lifting themselves up.   There’s that mind shift again! These athletes were behaving as if they were their own best friend.  They were using positive self talk to mentally prepare themselves for the challenge ahead.

Lauren Hernandez was observed many times saying, I’ve got this before performing.   And she surely did!  Lauren did not stand there and say I’m not better than Simone.  Nope, she used positive self talk and worked her way to winning medals.  In fact, she was amazing.   I also saw many runners preparing for the start of their race using self talk.

Research has proven that positive self talk can build one’s confidence and motivation.   With so many others in this world seeking to put us down, why do we do it to ourselves?   We need to shift or self talk and move away from the negative.  It’s time to become our own best friend.  I’m going to practice this strategy starting now.  No more putting myself down, or filling my head with all the things I feel I’m lacking in.  From now on,  I’m going to use positive self talk and support myself on my journey to health.   Next time I lace up those running shoes, which is tomorrow; rather than worry about it, I’m simply going to say, I’ve got this!  Then, I’ll take several deep breaths and go get it done.

 

Progress Check

Laura Kump's avatarReclaiming My Health

Sometimes we need to give ourselves a break.  We are always so hard on ourselves when it comes to health and beauty.  So many people rely only on the scale to gauge success. I believe we need to find others ways to check in, especially if you’re feeling less than satisfied.  Don’t give up, just change your perspective and your measuring stick.

They say absence helps you to better see the changes in people.  Aging, weight loss and other life changes are more noticeable when you don’t see someone everyday.  This same principle applies to our own reflection in the mirror.

It’s always good to document your journey to health.  Weighing in is just one way to do this.   Measurements are another.   But the one which gives the most visual support is documenting your journey with photographs.

My friend mentioned to me the other day that she sees…

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Progress Check

Sometimes we need to give ourselves a break.  We are always so hard on ourselves when it comes to health and beauty.  So many people rely only on the scale to gauge success. I believe we need to find others ways to check in, especially if you’re feeling less than satisfied.  Don’t give up, just change your perspective and your measuring stick.

They say absence helps you to better see the changes in people.  Aging, weight loss and other life changes are more noticeable when you don’t see someone everyday.  This same principle applies to our own reflection in the mirror.

It’s always good to document your journey to health.  Weighing in is just one way to do this.   Measurements are another.   But the one which gives the most visual support is documenting your journey with photographs.

My friend mentioned to me the other day that she sees a difference in me from June to now.   I decided to look at some photographs and see if I too see a difference.

This first pair shows me in May and August of this year.  I actually do think I look healthier in August than I did in May.

The dreaded bathing suit photographs.   The green suit was taken last July and the pink suit is from this July.   I definitely see the progress here and even feel I’m walking more confidently in this year’s picture.  Who knows, maybe next year I’ll rock a bikini.

Finally, below are close ups of my bottom half.   I’ve always carried my weight here like many women do.  The first shot is from a race I ran in May of this year.   The second shot is from this July.   Only two months between these pictures and I see a big difference.   That slow heart rate running is sure helping tone up my legs.  Thanks Coach MK. #winningatlife

It is important to measure your progress on more than just the scale.   The scale often leaves me sad and frustrated.   These photograph comparisons leave me hopeful and motivated.

How about you?   How do you measure your progress?  If you’ve been stuck in a rut, dig out some photographs and hopefully find something to smile about.

 

Weeds

image Somewhere along the line these little Dandelions were classified as weeds. Perhaps they didn’t live up to the beauty standards of flowers.  They are often pulled, poisoned and much effort is put forth trying to rid lawns and gardens of them.  But I pass these particular Dandelions every morning on my run.  I’m always touched by their beauty and personally I love yellow flowers.  There’s just something about yellow.  Many people also eat Dandelion greens and marvel in their taste.  My horses always loved eating Dandelions and I love how they looked out in the pasture.

All this got me wondering who decides that something is not beautiful and therefore banished from the flower world.  And who decides if we fit in the beautiful category?  In my opinion, there shouldn’t be a standard we have to live up to.  Beauty should, as they say, be in the eyes of the beholder.  But we all know this is not the case.  We all know there are standards for us, just as there are for the Dandelion.  We have to be a certain weight, or we are considered fat.  We have to have a certain look to us, or we are considered plain, or ugly.  It’s so sad that someone else gets to decide for us what represents beauty.  Me, I’ve decided to take back that power and make my own decisions about my beauty.  Only I get to decide how I look and feel and I do not have to please anyone but myself.

My whole life I have always blown out my hair whenever I washed it.  I have very fine, straight hair and I believed the only way to get any body to it was to blow it out.  When I was a teen, I remember my mom telling me I was going to be bald because I would wash and dry my hair three times a day.  My daughter has similar hair to me and she never blow dries her hair.  We had a conversation about this during our week at the beach.  I never blow out my hair when we are down at the beach.  Funny thing is it either looks the same, or better.  Imagine that.  Why in the world am I spending an extra half hour a day on this hair when it looks the same without that effort.  Probably because I was trying to live up to some beauty standard I set that said I needed to have lots of body in my hair.  It’s been a life long struggle trying to make my hair something it’s not.  Countless perms and body waves and tons of hair spray used in the process.  Well, since we’ve returned from the beach, I’ve only blown out my hair twice.  Once to go out to dinner and once to go to a meeting.  I’ve decided that I really do not need to put the effort in because my hair looks just the same even if I don’t.

Another area to think about is makeup.  My mom was a very vain woman who believed you never went anywhere without putting on your “face”.  When she had eye surgery, I remember her putting on her one eye “face”.  Now she’s in a nursing home and never has on her “face” and guess what.  Her face looks just as beautiful as it did with the make up.  Perhaps it looks better at times because it’s her beautiful, natural face.  I was never a big make up person.  I’m truly not a girly, girl but I did put on mascara every day.  I have such light eyelashes that without it it looks like I have none.  But I’ve begun to even cut back on that. The only person who notices that I have mascara on is me.  I’ve been going out without it and nobody notices any difference.  Again, I had set this beauty standard based on society’s expectations and was a slave to ensuring I had long, visible lashes.

How wonderful it is to have this new routine.  I’m no longer sweating, drying my hair and feeling my skin all sticky from makeup.  The only comments I’ve received are, you look like a teenager and you have great skin.  The reality is when we look in the mirror we see what we think is looking back at us.  That is not the reflection the rest of the world sees.  If you asked three people to describe one person, you’d see what I mean.  Everyone brings their perspective of us to the description.  Their perspective of us, the entire being, forms their perspective of how beautiful we are.  You know this is true.  Think about it.  Haven’t you ever in your life thought of someone as attractive, then gotten to know them and realized they weren’t as attractive as you thought.  Especially, if they are lacking in personality or kindness.

The point I’m trying to make is we have to be comfortable with who we are.  God made us just the way he wanted us to be.  We are created in his image and likeness – beautiful.  I believe there is nothing more beautiful than someone who is comfortable in their own skin.  They seem to radiate beauty and confidence.  It’s time to get out of our heads.  Do not let society’s standards be your standards.  Set your own standard for how you want to look and feel and then be confident and comfortable in that skin.  Stop living your life for someone else’s expectations.  Dare to be beautiful in your own right, just like the beautiful Dandelions you see everywhere.  Embrace your beauty and you will surely be beautiful.