First . . . I have to tell you that I ate cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and I have, I'm sorry to say, a bellyache. But . . . it was pretty much totally worth it! Those cookies, the one I gave you a recipe for a few days ago, thems are the BEST.
Now on to my rant . . . get excited . . .
So, this morning as I was driving down to get my haircut (and ps I LOVE my stylist . . . ask me her name and I'll give it) listening to Paul Simon's Rhythm of the Saints CD (it's stuck in John's CD player so we get to hear it a lot) and he sang, "A trip to the Market/ a trip around the world/ where the evening meal is negotiable/ if there is one. . . . "
That last part--where the evening meal is negotiable if there is one--made me pause and think really hard. I thought about a conversation I had last night with my friend Alison about what the teacher in our elementary school maturation program said.
Alison said that when the teacher was talking about nutrition she stopped and looked out over the audience of mothers/women and said, "And moms, you totally have to quit feeding your kids pizza and walking into the kitchen to make yourself a protein drink and talk about how fat you are! You need to eat! And you have to stop talking about yourselves like that!"
What is wrong with us women? Why the heck are we worrying so obsessively about being THIN when the evening meal is negotiable if there is one for people all over the world? Why do we spent billions of dollars on looking like we are starving?
Am I the only one seeing the irony in all this?
So lets dream for a minute, what if you put $5 into a piggy bank every time you thought, "Oh, if only I could lose five pounds" and saved it until we had enough to give a village in Africa a well. I think they cost about $100 dollars (and being totally honest here, Africa would have three new wells in about a month from me alone). And better yet, why not go there and help them dig it? I'm dreaming big here, but I'm telling you, that's a work-out (plus you'd eat like them and really, you want quick results . . . just watch A Dollar A Day on Netflix--45 days and they were like anorexic). I'm guessing while you're there digging away, you're not thinking about how your thighs rub together or how your arms are a little saggy or how you have wrinkles around your eyes. Nope, you're thinking I'm dirty and I'm not sure I'll ever be clean, but I'm giving clean water to a whole community! Wahoo! And maybe you'd learn an African Dance and you could come home and teach it everyone . . . THINK ABOUT THAT!
Think about how instead of getting ourselves all sad and discouraged about how you are not quite right and instead, saying, Forget this . . . I'm going to make a difference! And going to your local school and help teach children how to read and love learning. Think about looking into their hungry faces and minds and give them something to thrive on for their whole lives. Or go to a hospital or a retirement home or a animal shelter or a thousand and one other places that need YOU. Think about this . . . THINK women.
You are all powerful, strong, smart, kind and good. You can change the world. So stop, please please please stop thinking that you're not enough because your not the right size or shape or whatever. I promise you, I know you, I see you and you are PERFECT just as you are. And you are a force for good and change and giving ease and hope. Don't spend another moment worrying about what you aren't and look in that mirror and see what you ARE!
Look at your beautiful strong hands and think of eight amazing things they've done today--wiped away a child's tear (you thought I was going to say wiped a child's bum didn't you? well . . . tricked you), made breakfast, pulled weeds, wrote a legal brief, picked up a phone to call someone who was sad, eat a cookie, saved a company from ruin, or dug a well for the thirsty.
Look at those shoulders of yours--they carry the burdens of your family, friends, and co-workers and they are still straight and strong and can handle even more. That is you!
Look at your eyes--they may have lines around them, but those are marks of life and you should be proud of them. They are from crying and laughing and scolding and hoping and fearing and LIVING. Be proud. You've survived and you will yet survive. And they see . . . they see need and want and they know what to do to fix it.
Do you hear me? Do you understand me? You beautiful women of the world . . . you are ENOUGH. You are more than enough. You are perfect right now . . . today . . . in this very moment. Stop worrying and fretting and breaking yourselves down because of all that you think you lack. Be proud of who you are and what you do, whatever that is, and know that what you do is important. When you have your moments of doubt or feel yourself saying crap to yourself, I give you permission to tell yourself, Hush, you crazy self. You are beautiful. And then go and tell someone else that they are beautiful too. And go see what amazing things you can do today . . .
Thin is totally 100 percent overrated. At least that's what I tell myself a hundred times a day. And one of these days I'm going to believe it.
Now on to my rant . . . get excited . . .
So, this morning as I was driving down to get my haircut (and ps I LOVE my stylist . . . ask me her name and I'll give it) listening to Paul Simon's Rhythm of the Saints CD (it's stuck in John's CD player so we get to hear it a lot) and he sang, "A trip to the Market/ a trip around the world/ where the evening meal is negotiable/ if there is one. . . . "
That last part--where the evening meal is negotiable if there is one--made me pause and think really hard. I thought about a conversation I had last night with my friend Alison about what the teacher in our elementary school maturation program said.
Alison said that when the teacher was talking about nutrition she stopped and looked out over the audience of mothers/women and said, "And moms, you totally have to quit feeding your kids pizza and walking into the kitchen to make yourself a protein drink and talk about how fat you are! You need to eat! And you have to stop talking about yourselves like that!"
What is wrong with us women? Why the heck are we worrying so obsessively about being THIN when the evening meal is negotiable if there is one for people all over the world? Why do we spent billions of dollars on looking like we are starving?
Am I the only one seeing the irony in all this?
So lets dream for a minute, what if you put $5 into a piggy bank every time you thought, "Oh, if only I could lose five pounds" and saved it until we had enough to give a village in Africa a well. I think they cost about $100 dollars (and being totally honest here, Africa would have three new wells in about a month from me alone). And better yet, why not go there and help them dig it? I'm dreaming big here, but I'm telling you, that's a work-out (plus you'd eat like them and really, you want quick results . . . just watch A Dollar A Day on Netflix--45 days and they were like anorexic). I'm guessing while you're there digging away, you're not thinking about how your thighs rub together or how your arms are a little saggy or how you have wrinkles around your eyes. Nope, you're thinking I'm dirty and I'm not sure I'll ever be clean, but I'm giving clean water to a whole community! Wahoo! And maybe you'd learn an African Dance and you could come home and teach it everyone . . . THINK ABOUT THAT!
Think about how instead of getting ourselves all sad and discouraged about how you are not quite right and instead, saying, Forget this . . . I'm going to make a difference! And going to your local school and help teach children how to read and love learning. Think about looking into their hungry faces and minds and give them something to thrive on for their whole lives. Or go to a hospital or a retirement home or a animal shelter or a thousand and one other places that need YOU. Think about this . . . THINK women.
You are all powerful, strong, smart, kind and good. You can change the world. So stop, please please please stop thinking that you're not enough because your not the right size or shape or whatever. I promise you, I know you, I see you and you are PERFECT just as you are. And you are a force for good and change and giving ease and hope. Don't spend another moment worrying about what you aren't and look in that mirror and see what you ARE!
Look at your beautiful strong hands and think of eight amazing things they've done today--wiped away a child's tear (you thought I was going to say wiped a child's bum didn't you? well . . . tricked you), made breakfast, pulled weeds, wrote a legal brief, picked up a phone to call someone who was sad, eat a cookie, saved a company from ruin, or dug a well for the thirsty.
Look at those shoulders of yours--they carry the burdens of your family, friends, and co-workers and they are still straight and strong and can handle even more. That is you!
Look at your eyes--they may have lines around them, but those are marks of life and you should be proud of them. They are from crying and laughing and scolding and hoping and fearing and LIVING. Be proud. You've survived and you will yet survive. And they see . . . they see need and want and they know what to do to fix it.
Do you hear me? Do you understand me? You beautiful women of the world . . . you are ENOUGH. You are more than enough. You are perfect right now . . . today . . . in this very moment. Stop worrying and fretting and breaking yourselves down because of all that you think you lack. Be proud of who you are and what you do, whatever that is, and know that what you do is important. When you have your moments of doubt or feel yourself saying crap to yourself, I give you permission to tell yourself, Hush, you crazy self. You are beautiful. And then go and tell someone else that they are beautiful too. And go see what amazing things you can do today . . .
Thin is totally 100 percent overrated. At least that's what I tell myself a hundred times a day. And one of these days I'm going to believe it.
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