"You better chase all your blues away.."

A lot of people ask me how I stay so positive. The answer to this is that I choose to be. Simple as that. I could easily give up when I hit a plateau or feel sorry for myself for not progressing like I want to, but I've chosen not to. Being a Negative Nancy when you're not seeing results is a good way to continue not seeing results. In my experience, I've found that staying optimistic through the harder times has helped me push past them and get to where I want to be. I know, I know, I sound like a Hallmark card or something, but I promise you it's truly the best way to be! I post motivational/inspirational quotes on Facebook almost everyday because it not only keeps me from being all BooBoo Kitty about the stuff I'm not liking, but it helps other people. I've received several kind comments and messages from friends expressing their gratitude for my quotes. If it annoys all the Debbie Downers and they "hide" my status updates, that's their choice, but my goal is to get these people to think about the quotes and maybe make changes in their own lives.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; I am a former perpetual pessimist. I never looked on the brightside of ANYTHING! Ever. If something was going wrong, that's just the way it was. Period. There was no changing it or trying to turn it around, I just accepted failure or defeat. I now know that is absolutely NOT the way to live life. Not even close. Sure, I fail, I make mistakes, I slip up, but do I let it defeat me? Absolutely not. I may run 4 1/2 miles one day and feel on top of the world and then then the next day, barely make it throught 3.

As crappy as it may make me feel to not accomplish something I know for a fact that I can actually do, I can accept that the fact that I tried and put in the effort is sometimes good enough. I can now accept that if I eat something I'm not supposed to eat, I won't somehow magically gain all 63 pounds back because of one little slip up. Sure, I usually feel guilty, but I know that I can do better as soon as I'm given the opportunity. It's just not the end of the world

Changing the way I look has changed the way I feel, the way I look at life, the way I think, the way I act, the way I see myself, the way I see the world. It has literally changed my life and has saved my life. My emotional state has done a complete turn-around and I feel like a different person. I feel like I AM a different person. I still complain about things, I still get down about things, but that's because I'm human. Disappointments happen, failures happen, bad things do happen sometimes. However, none of those things constitute pessimism. Look at your life and realize that it's wonderful. Realize that you deserve happiness. Believe that you have a blessed life. You are alive, therefore you're blessed. You may not have the life you want or the life you thought you would have, but you have a life and you have opportunities that many people in this world do not. Yes, we all have "first world problems" sometimes, and sometimes we feel we deserve more than we have, but just know that you have the life you were meant to have and you should live it the way you want to live it.

 

I finally found a before shot that actually shows my body (I had untagged it...of course..) and compared to my most recent picture makes me feel so good :) It's still hard for me to believe that I actually look like that now..No complaints, though ;)