I seem to have hit a plateau in my weight loss… Yeah yeah, I know it happens. I’ll be the first person to tell anyone else to just push thru and you can do it… I’m a great cheerleader… but when it’s me, I’m a little harder on myself. Go figure. I’m trying to change things up and force my body to react differently, that’s what usually works for me (We have learned that the hard way). I remember a time that I would really get down on myself (hey, I'm not perfect!) but I’m getting better about how I deal with it.
With my latest plateau, I have started thinking about what inspires me, what motivates me, what I need to do to get my act together. There are a lot of people actually that inspire me. My friend, Joyce, inspires me. She is a tough woman who has been dealt a lot. She is a beautiful, hard working, single parent. She finds time to work full time, raise her kids (not to mention she’s an awesome mom), she goes to the gym every day, she is a masters student, she's a good friend…. AND she bakes some pretty kick ass cupcakes… just sayin’.
My sweet cousin, Brooke, inspires me. She has to be the strongest person I know. She has two precious children (Zach and Amelia Hope). They were both born with Hurlers Syndrome, or MPS 1 (Mucopolysaccharidoses). MPS 1 is a genetic lysosomal storage disease caused by the body’s inability to produce specific enzymes. Both children have already had bone marrow transplants. They are the sweetest babies ever and so lucky to have a mom who is such an advocate for them! She has spent months away from her husband and family to travel out of state so the children could get the best possible care.
This past weekend, Sam and I went to watch his son compete in a Spartan Race. That was a pretty awesome experience. Kyle has a heart condition and just getting out there and participating was pretty inspiring to me. It was a 4 ½ mile race with obstacles along the way. Some of those obstacles looked pretty grueling. We stood for a long time near a rope course (just one of many obstacles) where you had to climb up this rope netting, make your way across, then back down again (this was pretty tall I might add…) I just watched as these competitors climbed and thought to myself that there was no way I could do that…. I looked up and noticed people of all shapes and sizes climbing this thing; that was impressive. There were people with an obvious fear of heights; that was impressive that they were facing their fear…. And about that time… we saw three men climbing the rope. The first man had only one arm. The second man had one leg and the third man had no arms. Wow… my eyes teared up as I watched them make their way thru that obstacle. It had to be the most inspiring thing I had ever seen in my life! They climbed one piece of that netting, one step at a time. One by one, they reached for one piece of netting, using whatever they had to pull themselves along until finally, they made it through the obstacle. It wasn't easy but they did it. It took real perseverance and determination. Wow…. Who am I to complain about anything? Who am I to say “I can’t”. Who am I to take so much for granted? That was a real eye opener!
I am by no means ready to do anything like that right now. I’m doing good to do a 5K race with no obstacles… but I think within a year, we have decided that we might be ready for such an obstacle….let me just make a small clarification, of Team Lori and Sam, half of us are ready to run out and do the Spartan Race (isn't that right honey) but the other half of us, not so much. I mean, if those men could do it, why can’t we?? I can work on some endurance and strength exercises for my upper body and this time next year… who knows, I may be talking about my own Spartan Race and how I conquered by own fears!
Sometimes, we just have to sit back and take a good look around. We need to pause and really pay attention to what is going on around us. We shouldn’t take things so personally and we have to remember that “not everything is about me”. We need to not take things for granted. Life is a precious gift.
I was that person that was "asleep" so to speak. I looked around only as far as my blind eyes would see. I didn't pay attention to what was going on around me... I felt sorry for myself and had too much going on in my little bubble to really see all of the beauty around me.
We inspire one another. We lift each other up. We remind one another of the important things in life. Without our friends (or the occasional stranger that really has no idea how much of an impact they may have on our lives), we wouldn’t push ourselves to be better people. I, for one, wouldn't be who I am right now, if it weren't for the people in my life... the people who motivate me, inspire me, lift me up. Without people like Joyce, Brooke, Kyle, the 3 amazing men at the Spartan Race.... people like Sam who see me for what/who I am and for the burning desire to be a better person... who knows where I would be. I just know that all of these people were placed in my life, however briefly, for a reason. It's because of people like that that make me try harder each and every day. It's because of people like that (and many many more) that make me say "I can" instead of "I can't".
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