The numbers have changed but the smiles always been the same!

10^th February 2014

If youth only knew: if age only could.  Henri Estienne

After I wrote my blog on Friday I switched off my pc and went back to bed and that’s where I’ve stayed until this morning, whatever that was I’ve had, it was evil, flu like symptoms the whole works, I don’t remember the last time I’ve felt that rough and I’m just glad to be feeling a little more human this morning.  Ironically I have my health check with the nurse this morning, the one you get because you’ve hit middle age, be interesting to get the results of the blood tests.

This was the first weekend of 2014 that I had nice plans, I had two meals out with friends on the calendar and a massage, all of which had to be cancelled, gutted I was but I seriously couldn’t even make a cup of tea for my mom Saturday morning, I just about managed to put her medication up and get back in bed.  She’s not the best carer though, she was when we were kids she was the supreme care giver but since old age struck she’s not so good.  Friday morning when I was feeling pretty rough enough, I said to her (she was still in bed) as I decided to go back to bed, “do you want another cuppa before I go back to bed”, her reply, “are you up to making one?”, my reply, “No I’m not really but I want one myself”, to which she replied, “oh go on then I will”.  No do you want me to make it ;-) bless her heart, you gotta love her, she gave me family a good 50 years of waiting on us all hand and foot, she’s more than entitled to lie in bed these days.

Coughs – there’s no medine or sweet that helps, the only thing that’s helped in the slightest is sipping water to keep my throat lubricated, my ribs and chest are so sore from hacking all day Friday and Saturday, I should have a six pack by now they feel that tight!

Anyway I’ll stop boring you with my “woo is me” tale and get back to focusing on the happy!

Last WEEK people have been posting videos on facebook, “10 years of facebook”, it got me thinking about my 26 years of dieting, especially after my blog the other day talking about how I’d learned to accept that I enjoy food and will always have a weight challenge (not problem, problems are bad, I don’t see my challenge as bad) and those thoughts made me smile although over the years they’ve made me cry!

I joined Weight Watchers for the first time in 1988, I was 18 and I didn’t really have a weight problem, I had the ‘fear’, you know that one instilled by the media, by looking at your relatives who are already overweight, the FEAR that you will become FAT!  The fear that because you’re not a size 8, you’re not good enough, the FEAR that your life isn’t fantastic because you’re not slim!  

Oh if I could go back to that 18 year old young lady and have a chat I’d tell her to STOP with the FEAR, embrace life, love yourself NOW for who you are and go look in a mirror girl and see the REAL you because you are HOT! In twenty years time you’ll wish you still had the body you have now!  I’d also tell my young self, “you are going to have some of the best times in the years to come and none of them are going to be dependent on your weight my lovely, some however will be dependent on how you decide to think about your weight, your size and your body!”  I would advise her to stop with the obsessing over every calorie, stop looking for quick ways to get thin and stop trying to be a size 8 because it don’t look that good on her, embrace your body as it is, love the skin you’re in and notice how most people when they’re paying you a compliment talk about your wonderful smile and gorgeous laugh, none of them say, “ooo are you thin!”, there’s a reason for that – they don’t care and neither should you!  I’d say learn to love food and it’s magic by spending time in the kitchen cooking and creating food you enjoy with good healthy food, don’t believe that less in more where food is concerned – it isn’t! 

What would you tell you’re young self? What advice would you give that BeYOUtiful younger version of you, so that this BeYOUtiful older version of you now could benefit from your years of experience.

Now there’s a thought for Monday!

BeYOUtiful and have an amazing day, look up at the sky, even on a grey day it’s glorious.

Everything has beauty if you look at it through loving eyes. xx