Making The Change

I've been thinking a lot lately about how different my life is today than it would have been if I had continued on certain paths. I'm not proud of where I've been, but grateful for those people and those things that steered me in the right direction.

While many of those changes that brought me to where I am today are very personal, there is one that I want to proclaim to the world: DIET AND EXERCISE! If you know my husband, you know that this is an important thing in our family. Before I met him, I was all otter pops and ice cream. If I put forth the effort to make a meal, it was stake and instant potatoes. And I thought I was doing pretty good because I was skinny. And that's what it's about, right?

Oh so wrong. And I know we all know that, but do we really know that? Do we really know how bad that is - to be unfit? I believe what God said in Doctrine and Covenants 29:34 that "all things are spiritual". It just took me a while to figure that out.

Since dating, being engaged to, and marrying Tom, my attitude and life have changed drastically in this area. I believed that I could still be a really good person without being concerned about my body. Because isn't focusing on our bodies selfish and conceited and ungodly?

But I don't want to be a really good person. I want to be the best person I can be, which includes great concern with my health and wellness. That doesn't mean I'm selfish at all! That means I'm trying to be a good steward over this body I've been given with temporarily. This isn't a hindrance in my life, in fact it is the greatest physical change I've ever made.

I began to look at labels. Not for calories necessarily, but for ingredients. What am I putting into my body?
I began to eat more vegetables and fruits and whole grains.
I began to exercise.

And do you want to know what happened?

I sleep better every night.
I find that I have more time in the day to do what I swore I wouldn't be able to do if I made the time to exercise. That may be because....
I have more energy.
I feel stronger.
I feel in control of my life.
I gained confidence.
I feel more gratitude for what I can do every day.
'Symptoms' have disappeared.

And a whole lot of other things.

I'm still no expert, and I still crave chocolate and cake and deep fried foods. And every once in a while, we eat all those things! We find our lives equally full of good food and all the great things that come with it. In fact, I feel MORE joy. I feel humbled, because so many people talk about how important it is, and I thought I was the exception.

Do I look any different? No, not really. Besides the 6 pack that I'm working on ;) And that should never be the focus! It should be on being fit - keeping your diet and exercise in an area where you feel that you are truly in alignment with the Word of Wisdom and with modern revelation from prophets and apostles. Be in a place where you can receive personal revelation more easily because you are awake, alert, and aware.

I feel just outright happy. My changes feel drastic, though they really weren't. I'm SO grateful for my husband who encouraged but never pushed. One big bonus to all of this is feeling closer to him. Every prayer we say includes gratitude for healthy bodies and healthy food, and a request for that continued blessing as we do our part to maintain our health. I feel like a whole new world has opened up to me! Not because I now spend all my time at the gym, because I don't. Because I know that at the end of the day, I have exercised, eaten well, and been spiritually fed. That makes me feel very accomplished.

I could probably go on for a long time, but World Religions looms, as do the great snow clouds and wind outside, so I must bundle up and be off. But I will most definitely talk about this again. Soon.