My husband was thrilled when I told him I was writing a post about being my own Valentine. Apparently that takes the pressure off him to pick out a gift. :)
I thought about writing a post highlighting "healthified" versions of chocolate desserts or even a post about how "being intimate" with your partner can aide in weight loss. I figured that first idea has been done on every morning talk show this week and the second idea would probably put my mother into an early grave. (Hi Mom) So I went back to the drawing board, and back to the beginning of my journey.
For those of you that are new here, I have lost 122 pounds since last year. When people hear that I am instantly flooded with questions,"What did you do?", "What do you eat?", "How much do you work out?"
Those are all really easy questions for me to answer.
The hard one comes from those at the beginning of their journey. They ask for insight, "How did you find the motivation to take that first step?"That question stops me every time. I know what they want. They want me to tell them a "secret" to getting started, something to make it easy. But the truth is, I can't give them that answer. They have to find their own "enough is enough" moment.
I had several things that led up to my decision, but what it boiled down to was I knew it was time to take care of me. I had been putting everyone else first and at some point it dawned on me that not only would loving myself be good for ME, but it would benefit my family as well.
So as we are coming up on Valentines Day, and you're thinking about how you can make it special for your loved one, take a moment to think of yourself. When is the last time you took care of yourself? Give it a shot. That may mean taking care of your body by eating right and exercising, or taking care of your mind by allowing yourself to love YOU.
Loving yourself is the best gift you can give yourself AND your partner.
Things I love about ME:
I LOVE how determined I am.
I LOVE my new arm muscles.
I LOVE my strong legs.
I LOVE knowing I'm a good mother.
What do you LOVE about yourself?
(and P.S. Charles... if you're reading this, I'll let you out of the gift if you promise to make some of your yummy chocolate covered strawberries. They're practically health food. :)