Mom in the Mtns

Hi everyone!  I hope you had a great weekend!  Mine was filled with Barre3 (the power FINALLY came back on and I took a class on Friday and Saturday!), 6th row tickets to Saturday’s Flyers game, and the longest run I’ve done yet  (11!!!!!  Ahhh!!!).  Plus I got to sleep in on Sunday!

The game winning goal was scored here by my absolute favorite hockey player on earth, Claude Giroux!

This week, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m focusing on LOVE!  Each blog post this week will focus on love and today is going to be all about loving yourself.  I’ve learned by experience that this is one of the hardest things to do.  It’s so easy to forget all the amazing things you’ve done and focus on all of the things that didn’t go as planned.  I’m absolutely terrible about this – I’m always focusing on the bad parts of my day, and when one thing doesn’t go as planned I kind of fall apart and blame myself.  If you need proof of this, take a look at the posts I wrote about some of my long runs that didn’t go as well as planned!  But loving yourself is an essential part of living a healthy life.  If you’re always consumed by the negative stuff you’ll limit the things you accomplish and will end up pretty unhappy.  And seriously, no one wants that.

Lately I’ve been feeling a lot of good self-love vibes, but it hasn’t always been that way.  Last fall brought some really tough times in my personal life, and I would say that I was in a pretty bad place during the month of November and part of December.  I didn’t smile or enjoy doing the things I used to love doing – instead I would come home from work and lay on the sofa and cry for hours.  I began hating everything about my life and who I was, and blamed myself for the things that were going on.  I definitely needed a change.  In December I started the Runner’s World Holiday Run Streak which gave me a reason to get off the couch and do something for myself every day.  And we all know how awesome running is when you’re feeling awful – it’s the best kind of therapy!  Once the run streak ended in January, I was feeling so much better than I had in November and was ready for a new challenge.  I started cross training and fell in love with Barre3, and I also started following my half marathon plan closely instead of just winging it like every other race I’ve done.  It felt so good every time I was able to complete my training runs and cross training workouts!  Now that I’m less than 2 weeks away from my first half marathon I’m feeling pretty confident about things – not only do I think I’ll be able to finish (hopefully without too much pain!), I’m amazed by the things my body was able to accomplish in the past few months and it’s made me realize how awesome I am.  Of course there have been some tough runs, lazy days, and moments where I ended my day with a mini breakdown, but those moments are not as common as they used to be.  When I started loving myself and what my body was capable of I started doing things I never thought I could do!

I suggest doing some of the following things the next time you need to fall in love with yourself again:

• Read through your past blog posts.  I did this last week and was blown away by the things I’ve accomplished in the last 6 months!  I also read about some of my tough times and was happy to see that I’ve moved past those things and I’m in a better place now.  It’s so motivating because you’ll wonder where you will be a few months from now!
• Take a few hours (or even a whole day if you’re lucky) to do something that you love but never get to do.  It could be running in your favorite place, reading a book, or even baking a super unhealthy recipe that you love eating on special occasions.  When I was really struggling last fall my husband took me hiking on the weekends and it’s seriously amazing what a few hours of doing something you love can do for you!
• Get dressed up.  This doesn’t necessarily mean go to work in a ball gown, but if you’re constantly wearing sweatpants (or in my case, jeans and Uggs) you might start to feel pretty blah.  Taking the time to wear your favorite outfit, put on some makeup or do your hair a different way can go a long way in how you feel about yourself.  On my most blah days I’ll wear a fun accessory and it always makes me feel prettier!
• Treat yo self!  Get a manicure, a massage, take a bath, do whatever you want to do to pamper yourself.  You’ll feel a lot better afterwards!
• Do something that you’ve always secretly wanted to do.  Sure, it’s terrifying to try something new, but you’ll feel awesome when you’re done!  A little self confidence boost will help you fall in love with yourself again, plus it gets you thinking about the awesome things you can accomplish in the future.
• Do your favorite kind of workout.  Endorphins make you happy, which helps you focus on how awesome you are.  Plus I always feel so strong and confident after working out!
• Surround yourself with people and things that make you happy.  If you’re around negativity you’ll end up feeling negative about yourself and your situation in life.  The people you hang out with reflect who you are as a person, so be sure to surround yourself with caring and supportive people who genuinely love you.  You’ll end up loving yourself more!

Now it’s your turn!  Tell me what you love about yourself today.  If you could give yourself a valentine, what would it say?