How To Measure Yourself

There are so many ways to measure yourself. Some are good, some not so good. Some are accurate and some we blow way out of proportion. I measure myself all the time. I measure myself in the bathtub; last year I spanned the width of the tub, touching both sides, now I can put my hands between myself and the walls of the tub and not touch either. I measure myself in my clothes; the size, the bagginess or tightness, the level of comfort. I measure myself in gasping breathes; I can chase my son for longer now before I need to catch my breath, I can run up and down the stairs a bunch without feeling like someone has punched me in the gut. I measure myself in food court glances; people don't give you as dirty looks if your not the extremely fat girl eating a burger. I measure myself not just in people's comments, but in the expression of their eyes when they say it; someone can say "you're looking really good!" but their eyes are saying "c'mon, it's not that hard, just quit eating so much and workout and you'll lose weight!". I measure myself with inches and pounds. I measure myself against other people; comparisons on beauty or size or compassion or motherhood. I measure myself against myself; the person I've been in the past, the person I would like to be in the future.
So, there are lots of ways to measure yourself. Some are helpful, lots are not. The only thing that is important is to see the changes, big and small. Celebrate your success, no matter how you measure those success.