5 Perspectives That Changed My Life

Okay, changed my life may be a little extreme! You’ll come to learn I can be a tad dramatic. These words of wisdom I am sharing come from people I respect, mentors that have no idea who I am, and my own personal snippets of advice that opened my eyes and helped me grow in all different aspects of my life.

#1: “If you cannot see yourself eating a certain way for the next 10, 15 or even 20 years, then you need to reevaluate your current nutrition plan.” – Tyler Fox

This is straight from my personal training plan. When I read this, it blew my mind. It’s so simple, yet I had never heard anyone say it before. For me personally, this reasoning is why Keto and other similar diets are not realistic. Because for myself (and most people!), it is not sustainable to cut out an entire food group. A successful diet is anything that you can actually maintain.

#2: Imagine talking to your best friend the way you speak to yourself. Seriously, picture telling your best friend “Ugh your love handles are disgusting!” or “You’re trash for eating that bag of chips” You would NEVER speak to someone you love that way—so don’t do it to yourself! -Ya girl, Relatable Red 

I believe for a lot of women this is a huge first step in getting healthy, physically and even more so, mentally. Yes of course hold yourself accountable but damn girl, give yourself some grace. Because let me let you in on a little secret –if you can’t love yourself and appreciate your progress in the first few steps of your journey, you STILL won’t a year later!

Back story: I wanted a big butt. There, I said it. Of course I wanted to lean out and get rid of my newly acquired love handles, but really I wanted my butt to be fuller and my jeans to fit better. So when I had really started being consistent with fitness (read more here!) I was feeling better about myself…but my booty gains were close to none. Despite my progress, I was still SO hard on myself about it.

I was not allowing myself to fully enjoy my commitment to my health, simply because my physical body wasn’t quite where I wanted it yet. Fast-forward to a year later and I’ve made way more measurable progress, even on my little booty. But Spoiler Alert: It’s still not exactly where I want it —and that’s okay! The difference is now I see it as something to continue working toward, while still allowing myself to be proud of my accomplishments. 

This is absolutely applicable outside of the realm of fitness. But it was the harsh words and poor body image of myself and my closest friends that made me realize how unbelievably common it is to speak to ourselves this way. It hurt my heart to hear my friends speak SO critically about themselves, and that’s when it clicked for me!

This next one is straight from my motivational goddess, Rachel Hollis. This is an excerpt from her book, “Girl, Wash Your Face.”

#3: “Stop showing up for everyone else and never showing up for yourself. What if, just this once, you stuck with it? What if, just this time, you don’t break a promise you make to yourself? Not out of punishment or penance for all the times you’ve fallen off your goals, but because you are worthy and deserving of good things and the only way you’ll understand that truth is if you follow through on your personal commitments.” – Rachel Hollis

Just think about how often you don’t keep a promise to yourself. It’s mind-blowing really. We would never bail on people the way we do ourselves. I’m just going to leave you with that one because my words can’t hold up to Queen Rach. Also, if you haven’t read “Girl, Wash Your Face” yet, you need to!

#4: “If you think even for one second that you’re settling, you are.” -It’s me again!

This is applicable to all aspects of life. But as you might imagine, it became glaringly obvious when I got out of a terrible relationship. At that very same time, a close friend of mine, as well as a few of my IG followers, were experiencing the same exact thing –constantly wondering if they had been settling for a mediocre love. All but one of them ended up leaving the relationship they were in, so I think it’s safe to say that answer was yes.

And lastly, you’re getting a two-parter!

#5 part 1: “Have to vs. Get to” –Someone on your Instagram

#5 part 2: “Tomorrow isn’t promised” –I am not going to pretend I can figure out who said this one first.

The root of both of these is gratitude. It’s as simple as that. Daily gratitude is one of my New Year’s resolutions this year. We are only four months in to 2019, but looking at the world with a grateful heart has been life-changing for me. 

Part One!

I love my dogs more than life, but like anyone else, day-to-day chores get old. Walking two dogs that are not the most well behaved is not a walk in the park—see what I did there? (LOL) Anyway, about 6 months ago I took our older dog, Summer, to the vet for a routine visit. She’d had a bump on her side for about a year that I wasn’t overly concerned with. During the visit, I scheduled for her to get her teeth cleaned and get the mysterious bump removed at the same time, so we could take care of both while she was under anesthesia. 

The vet called me a few days post-op to check in and said everything’s great except the bump was cancerous. Y’all. My heart sank. I fully expected them to tell me it was a benign cyst, no big deal. She was perfectly healthy, had no symptoms, and she was not even 6 yet. (In case you’re wondering, the biopsy showed clean margins and the vet said she should have no future problems). Thank Goodness!

What if the news had been different?

I would have been praying for as much time with her as possible. Now my mindset looks more like, I get to walk my two happy and healthy dogs every day. I get to vacuum constantly. I get to be uncomfortable in my bed because they love to sleep with us at night. 

Now I’m sure you’re thinking, of course this makes sense with the health of your dog! But let me tell you, I have been able to apply it to all the monotonous chores in my life. I get to go to the gym because I have a healthy body. I get to work today and contribute to a comfortable living for myself and my family. Reminding myself that if everything changed tomorrow, if something terrible happened, I’d be desperately praying for this normal day I have right now. 

Part Two!

It must be this stage in my life but within the last few months, I have noticed quite a few people my age whose parents have passed. Even typing it makes me nauseous. This is where “Tomorrow isn’t promised” comes in. Even before this epiphany of mine I have always been extremely thankful for my parents. They are some of the best people anyone could ever know. 

However, with this revelation about people my age losing their parents, came a gratitude for the health of everyone around me. I don’t want to sound morbid here, but this is what has drastically altered the way this quote resonates with me. If Matt and I are bickering, I try to take a breath and consider “what if something happened to him?” It’s awful to think about, but he could get in a car accident on his way home from work… or any number of terrible things. I don’t dwell on it (hello, obviously not healthy) but just a fleeting thought to remind myself how lucky I am that he is here and healthy and I get to love him every day. Let the little stuff go, tomorrow isn’t promised. 

Disclaimer: *If you’re a highly anxious person, this may not be the tactic for you.*

I hope at least one of these gives you a new outlook on your health, relationship, or daily gratitude. Shoot, maybe something I said will give you a whole new perspective on something else entirely, and that’s cool too! 

If you have any words of wisdom that you live by, don’t hold out on me! Leave me a comment. I am always looking for new perspectives that might benefit my own life.

-The Relatable Red