Return of #ReasonsImAwesome

If you know me, or stalk me on Facebook (which is perfectly acceptable), you probably know that lately I've been struggling. Between the ongoing broken sleep that comes along with the Jiggley Baby, and doing all of the child wrangling/household crapola on my own, I've also been pretty hard on myself. Ok, that's a lie. I've been downright mean to myself.

• You can't keep the house tidy
• Listen to that baby crying at you, you can't even make him happy
• Look at {Jiggley Boy}, he's bouncing off the walls and getting into trouble because YOU aren't paying enough attention to him
• No one really wants to hang out with you because you're such a downer
• You're not good enough
• You can't do it

Just a little snippet of the lovely self-talk that has been going through my head lately. If anyone talked to someone I cared about like that, it would INFURIATE me. If anyone talked to my kids like that I would throat punch them (ok, probably not - but I'd really want to). But why is it ok, acceptable even, to talk to myself like this? I could blame it on my mother never really having anything nice to say about herself. I could blame it on the media and how they have given me a completely skewed perspective on beauty and motherhood and on just being a woman in general. I could blame it on depression or anxiety or OCD. There are any number of things that I *could* blame it on. But placing the blame doesn't really change the fact that I am a bitch to myself. It doesn't really change the fact that MANY women are mean, and hard, and hateful to themselves.
I don't want my boys to grow up thinking that it's just normal to be overly critical of themselves; to hate themselves; to always feel like they don't measure up to a conceived version of themselves that doesn't exist. So it's time to change. It just takes one person, with one idea to start a revolution... now I'm not saying "Hey, friends, let's start a revolution!", but... Hey, friends, do you want to start something amazing? Awesome, even?


These guys are just a part of what makes me awesome <3
{Photo courtesy of Amber Bourret Photography - check her out!}

I'm bringing back #ReasonsImAwesome. 30 days of LOVING yourself. 30 days of finding something, no matter how big or small, that makes you the incredible, amazing, AWESOME person you are. 30 days of acknowledging that even with our flaws and mistakes and imperfections, we are pretty super. So check out the Facebook page and share your #ReasonsImAwesome. You can even use the #ReasonsImAwesome on Twitter if you want to spread the love. Let's start changing the way we think about ourselves. Let's change the way our kids WILL think about themselves in the future.

Digging Deeper

It takes approximately 21 days for something to become part of your everyday routine. Almost a month. I'm on week 2 (again) and already I'm starting to dread working out. Well not dread exactly, but I just wish there was an easier way. I know full well that there isn't a REAL easier way - if I want to lose the weight I've got to put the work in. 21 days worth of putting the work in, and then it shouldn't feel quite as much like work as it does right now.
So when I need to dig deeper, when I need *something* to run towards, when I feel like cutting it short or giving up, I made this.

This is my vision board, my goals, my "why I am doing this". I'm getting healthy for my BOYS. I'm getting healthy for my HAPPINESS. I'm doing this because I love my family and I want to be around for a long long time to bug and harass them. I have put this up right in front of my treadmill, so when I need to focus on something to get through the last excruciating 30 seconds of a sprint or when I need something to climb towards, I can see EXACTLY why I'm doing it.

What gets you through a run or a workout? Are you motivated by the physical or mental changes that comes with a workout? How do you push through or dig a little deeper?

Positive Affirmations

For Lent this year I am going to give myself a daily positive affirmation. They may take the form of an inspirational quote, a one liner, random thoughts or a picture or whatever gives me a wonderful positive feeling.

Feb22 - Life can be filled with delightful surprises, if you just stop long enough to let them surprise you.
Feb23 - The best part of my day is when T crawls into bed with me in the morning, and snuggles in as close as humanly possible. Those quite, warm little moments before the craziness of the day begins, are something to look forward to and cherish.