Graffiti + Truth = Good Health

I've been thinking about graffiti lately. What got me started thinking about it is the graffiti application on facebook. You can draw a little picture and leave it on someone's facebook wall! (Doesn't that sound fun? I don't know how to do it, but really, really want someone to teach me.) And then I began thinking about graffiti in the real world...on bridges, buildings, and other places that were never intended to be "graffitized." I am drawn to it... it is so THERE in a big, bold creative way... colorful and expressive. I wonder about the person behind the design...and I feel a bit drawn to the rebelliousness that must be driving that person. I am like that person...I , too, have a rebellious spirit, and so I tend to disregard the fact that someone, for selfish reasons, chose to use someone else's property as their canvas. And then there is the more obviously destructive graffiti. I remember being a little 5 yr. old girl swinging on my swing set in the backyard, and witnessing 2 teenage girls spray painting the big bad F word on the side of the white garage that belonged to the elderly couple who lived behind us. Maybe that's not graffiti. Maybe that's simply vandelism. Either way, it was paint. And it was applied for selfish reasons. My dad, always the good guy, knew where those girls lived and so he went to their homes, talked to their parents, and those girls showed up behind my house again with paint brushes and a can of white paint. They did not enjoy the process of undoing their wrong, but they returned the little white garage to it's original state. Now, THIS IS THE PART THAT APPLIES TO MY HEALTHQUEST! And this is very simple. I have a naturally rebellious spirit. We all do. I am naturally selfish. We all are. And I have been given a gift. We all have. A body. It is a container; a vessel. It holds something more valuable than any other created thing. Our soul. And our soul has really important work to do. We have people to love and care for! Just yesterday I began to understand more fully that I am not my body. I am IN my body. And in my selfish, rebellious nature...upon this gift I have been given, which was intended for good purposes, I have "graffitized" it with a big bad F word....FAT! Not only on the outside, but throughout the inside as well. It is true that in order for my soul to do the beautiful work it was created to do, this vessel must work the way it was intended to! And that is the reason I am on this Healthquest on the Homestretch! Like those teenage girls experienced, there are parts of the "undoing" process that I will not enjoy. But this isn't about "me." This is about being selfless....and about being whatever the opposite of rebellious is. I was born inside a healthy body...and now it's my responsibility to repaint this garage...remove the F word...and get back on the path I started on!

Day One at D-1

I've begun something new and exciting! Do you know how long it has been since I've stuck to regular exercising for more than a month? It was when women still wore scooped neck leotards and colored tights to work out in. I had 3 favorites...a shiny bright pink one, a turquoise one, and a purple and pink striped one, all with matching tights, of course. And then the movie "Fame" came out and so we all cut the neckline out of our favorite sweatshirt and wore that over our cute matching leotard outfits. And shoes? I had some kind of athletic looking shoes with rainbow ribbons on the sides. Very cute. I am, right this minute, imagining just how well my favorite workout outfit...the shiny scoop-necked pink one and my rainbow tennies... would work in one of Carter Hay's classes. Well, let's just say they wouldn't. Those were peppy, everybody be cute together while doing lots of box steps classes to songs with lyrics like "Girls, just wanna have fu-un!"

My 11-yr old son began playing football this year...and after his first couple practices I asked him if it was fun. He said, "It's SO fun! (pauses to rethink that statement) Actually, it's not the normal fun. It's REALLY hard. But it makes me want to keep working harder and know that I can do it! It feels SO great! It's THAT kind of fun!"

Well friends, those are my thoughts exactly after these first few days! I have been nervous everyday...a big wing flapping butterfly festival in my stomach. Yet each day I've left feeling more capable...and confident that I absolutely can do this! My muscles have come out of hibernation, along with my desire to be stronger. I know this sounds nearly impossible....but truly, after just 2 DAYS....I began to feel a positive difference just doing regular things around the house! Like this...it was time to shave my legs. So I lifted my right leg to the sink counter. My thought was, "Wow! How did that get up there so fast? And why didn't it hurt my back like usual?" 2 Days. 2 Days!!! Yes, there has been soreness. But Carter has given us good suggestions on how to lessen the soreness...and they work! There are many things I've been happily satisfied with. Like my new sports bra. It works! And if you saw the task a sports bra has to perform if it is MY sports bra...you'd understand why that is the number #1 big deal on my necessary equipment list!
I thought only football players got to work out on turf. And now I do, too! That's good because it is a little bit squishy...and is keeping my feet from being sore. Carter changes up the activities we do so many times through each workout that things stay interesting...and time is over before I've gotten bored. I love having the fresh air come into our space...it is completely open to the outside on 2 sides! It doesn't have that typical gym smell (scent sounds too pretty)...of vintage male sweat lingering like a championship banner.

Knowing each day I'm going to walk in and join a group of women who are sharing this journey with me is a kind of support in itself. There has been encouragement given and received, and I have especially appreciated the words of experience and encouragement from the girls who were part of the first HealthQuest! And you know who is awake at 4:45 in the morning on the drive to my workout? Just me, the stars and the streetlamps. It's quite peaceful and beautiful that hour of the morning. I wonder what Carter will have us do tomorrow? Whatever it is, I know I'll feel...and be... healthier after doing it than I am today! Yipeee!!!