Feeling IT

So lately I've been feeling IT.  I mean really feeling IT.

What in the world am I talking about?

IT = motivation!  And for some reason I'm all over it this weekend.  It's like the last 3 weeks of challenge have brought some much needed clarity.

Maybe its the clarity from my chocolate fast. I've given up chocolate for Lent. While I've been quite miserable without it in some ways, not having it has actually led me to refocus on some things about myself I really needed to realize...and work on changing.

Or maybe it is from having that fall last week and re-injuring my bad ankle.  I didn't run again for almost 10 days...and that just about did me in.  I absolutely longed to run.

Or maybe it was because I've had terrible tooth pain on and off for about 4-5 months...and then the root canal I had on Thursday that seemed to immediately relieve the pain.  I almost felt that feeling after you've had the hiccups for a really long time and then you stop hiccuping...but you feel like you should at any moment hiccup.  That welcome calm definitely made me feel better overall.

No runs, no chocolate, annoying mouth pain, can you just imagine how grumpy I've been?  But all in all as the fog clears and I begin to snap back into my routine I've come to realize that nothing I am going through can compare to the suffering going on in the world today.  NOTHING. 

And that motivates me.  Wait, how?

Well, the way I look at it is this.  I can't fly to Japan and help.  I can pray, and text my money to the red cross, but I can't physically help them.  Not right now anyway.

What I can do is make the most of the life and body I have been blessed with.  Take every opportunity to make my lifestyle healthier, more active and more balanced.  Be healthier so I can be with my family for years, be there to love them through all of the challenges in their lives.  I can LIVE for right now, for today, for the best.

Because you never know when things will change.

When you will fall and reinjure yourself.  Or be in pain.  Or suffer a catastrophe.  The better care you take of yourself TODAY ensures you are that much further ahead should disaster strike.

Please know I'm not at all making light of what is happening there.  I'm devastated for the pain and suffering going on all over the world, and specifically in Japan right now.  But I do think it is cause for us all to look at our lives and how we are living them.

I don't want to regret all the time I spent abusing my body.  I want to make the majority of my life about taking good care of this one physical life.

Today I'm thankful that I ran a 5k this morning and will go for a family walk later this afternoon. 
I'm thankful that I'll be able to go back to Zumba tomorrow night and get back to my 4000 calorie burn for the week this week. 
I'm thankful for my loving family.
I'm thankful that everything I need is within reach. 
I'm thankful for the new job I'll be starting in less than 2 weeks. 
I'm thankful for the friends I could not live without.
I'm thankful for having a second chance to change my blueprint.

And most of all...I'm thankful for IT.  That motivation that will keep me moving forward for as long as I'm blessed to be on this earth.

~Clara