Here’s to Us

Ask anyone what “being healthy” means, and you’ll get a wide range of answers. Hitting the gym for an hour every day after work. Focusing on “eating clean.” Or maybe just not eating the entire batch of cookies (been there). We all interpret it slightly different, and as a result, we might lead very different lifestyles. Despite how we define it, though,  I think it’s safe to say there are two main components to our physical health: nutrition and fitness – the latter of which has not had a role in my life lately.

Ever since our wedding month ended, I’ve been on the search for workout motivation. I was doing so well, and then BAM, I had to take breaks over the course of several days and my routine completely died. As I continue to just…not workout…I’ve started loving having that extra time back in my day. But, the more time that passes, the more “blah” I feel. I know I need to get back to my fit ways, despite how unattractive they may be to maintain.

A photo posted by Gettin’ My Healthy On (@gettinmyhealthyon) on Jun 22, 2016 at 12:07pm PDT

Okay, so running on the beach isn’t too bad. 😉

I shared a quote on social media recently that reminded me of this. It highlights all the crazy things we do, even though we don’t want to, just because we know it’s the “healthy” thing to do. We know it’s for our own good. This post was inspired by that quote and is meant to be a little ode to everyone who works so hard to lead a healthy life, no matter how unglamorous or frustrating it can be. Here’s to us.

Here’s to…

• Making the healthy choices, even when the people closest to us don’t seem to understand them.
• Spending hours every Sunday meal prepping, so we don’t eat like crap all week.
• Going for a walk on our lunch break, when we really just want to mindlessly scroll through social media. #TheStruggleIsReal
• Eating a veggie-packed salad, when we really want a cheese-tastic pizza.
• Painful blisters and ugly calluses covering our once-pretty feet, due to running on a regular basis.
• Going to a Zumba class and making a fool of ourselves but embracing it and having fun anyways.
• Showing off our seemingly permanent upper thigh tan lines caused by living in running shorts over the years.
• Being D.D. because we have our long run tomorrow morning.
• Drinking more water than seems humanly possible.
• Running to the bathroom 10 times per day because of said water.
• Smashing our muscles with a painful foam roller because we know it helps stretch them out and prevent injury.
• Making chips out of kale, even though we could most certainly down a whole bag of Baked Lay’s potato chips.
• Waking up at an ungodly hour to fit in that workout because we know we won’t do it later.
• Looking back and admiring how far we’ve come, even though we have a long way to go.
• Getting after it, day in and day out, even if we aren’t seeing much progress.
• Loving the physically and mentally stronger people we have become because of our unfailing dedication.
• Knowing we’re not just improving ourselves, but also inspiring others every day.

<3 I feel like I could go on forever.

It’s not always because we want to do all of these things. It’s because we’ve slowly conditioned our self-discipline to the point of being able to prioritize our future selves over what we want in the “now.” Excess water, not sleeping in much anymore, ridiculous tan lines – it’s just all part of the process, at least for me. The way people persevere through all of these things is kind of amazing. So keep on keepin’ on, and never doubt that what you’re doing is worth it.

Here’s to us!