Always BeYOUtiful, they can't ask for more.

31^st May 2014

We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their colour.  Maya Angelou

Well that was the best sleep ever – well maybe not ever, but it was 9 hours I badly needed!  I’ve felt really tired the back end of this week and yesterday I truly needed some rest, I struggled through my mornings work, ended up leaving some of it for this morning because by noon I just couldn’t think straight, too many hours worked over the last few weeks, need to reset that balance! 

Like so many of us, one of the main side effects I suffer from when tired is hunger, I just want to eat, I sat resting yesterday afternoon, constantly thinking, “I could just eat…..” how I didn’t I really don’t know, I kept reminding myself how I didn’t want to undo all the effort I’d put in over the last 7 weeks, I may not have lost lots of weight but I’ve been losing, not gaining and that’s what’s matters.  I’ve been eating healthy and feeling well and that’s more important than anything.  This reminder somehow helped me through the day, I had toast and satsumas for breakfast, I’d forgot to defrost the chicken for my curry so we had egg, chips and beans for lunch – some would say my subconscious forgot on purpose because I really didn’t fancy standing in the kitchen for an hour!  For tea we had hotdogs on Weight Watcher petit pains and onions fried using my WW oil spray, I served it with some salad leaves to try and aim towards my five a day and it did the job, fast food without the junk.  When I got my lobster hands later in the day, I opted for a homemade bowl of popcorn, and then we had a much needed early night.

We watched ‘Life of a King’ yesterday with Cuba Gooding Jnr, it was very good, well worth a watch if ever you get the chance, it was just one example of someone making a difference to other people’s lives!  Obviously yesterday was all about Stephen Sutton, an incredible young man who made so much difference to other people’s lives and will be remembered as a courageous amazing human being.  I was listening to Angelina Jolie earlier in the week on Radio two and she said something when asked about her humanitarian work that stuck in my mind, “if you don’t live a life of use to others then you really don’t have much of a life.” I think she makes a good point!  We lost another amazing lady this week Maya Angelou, one of her quotes was “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”   

Just a small example of a few amazing people, none of whom had an easy life, so did the difficultness they experienced make them the people they became or was it just the way they chose to handle those difficult times – was it their attitude that made them who they are?  I think everyone knows Stephens story, maybe not so much Maya’s - she was raped at the age of 7 by her mother's boyfriend who was then murdered by her uncles. Angelou felt responsible for the death, and she was mute for five years.  Somehow she got over that and became a truly inspirational lady!  They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger don’t they!

It’s like failure, when you fail do you give up or do you try again?  Here’s a few examples of famous people who failed but didn’t give up;

• Einstein wasn’t able to speak until he was almost 4 years old and his teachers said he would “never amount to much” (ooo I have something in common with Einstein, I had teachers that said that to me too!)
• Steve Jobs – At 30 he was left devastated and depressed after being unceremoniously removed from the company he started.
• The Beatles were rejected by Decca recording studios who said “we don’t like their sound – they have no future in show business.”
• Oprah Winfrey was demoted from her job as a news anchor because she “wasn’t fit for television.”
• Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper for “lacking imagination” and “having no original ideas”.
• Michael Jordan – After being cut from his high school basketball team, he went home, locked himself in his room, and cried.

I bet we’ve all locked ourselves in our room and cried at some time haven’t we, do we give up or do we get up and carry on, after all failure is an integral part of success they say!

So whatever your age, wherever you are in your life right now, in the words of Maya Angelou, that wonderful inspirational lady, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.”

Always BeYOUtiful. xx