I’m having one of those distracted days. I have a great list of things to get accomplished.
Some are more urgent than other. Some have been on my ‘to do’ list for way too long. Others reappear on my list because that is just the kind of tasks that they are. I have good reasons for being distracted. Yesterday was my birthday and today is my daughter’s birthday. I usually am super distracted on my kids' birthdays. I can’t seem to help but relive their births, young years, and then the mind wanders from there. We are long past planning parties and worrying about that and goody bags and party clothes. We no longer have to search for the hottest gadget or fad toy. Things have really changed.
But that is the way it is supposed to be, right? We tend to have times where we pine for the ‘good old days’ but that is because we are missing the feeling that we remember the most. We think of the days smelling clean sleeping babies, but forget the days covered in poop and spit. We think of puppies when they were soft and fluffy and forget that they chewed everything they saw. We remember most things this way. We remember what we really want to remember even the bad stuff. A great story is only great when you remember the ugly details. But just like the good stuff, did it really happen like that?
Perspective is everything. There was a story told to me years ago about a group of people that were put into a room. Somebody came in and then after they were gone, the questions were asked; what colour was their hair? What colour was their shoes? What were they actually wearing? What did they say and do? No two people had the same answer and none were perfect.
Our memories also get mixed up. We sometimes forget who we were with. Where was that? When did THAT happen? Are you sure YOU were there? That is not how I remember that!
The good and the bad about social media is that some of life’s events will now be ever remembered online. We have become a culture of pictures for everything. Selfies are everywhere. But that does help us remember, doesn’t it? There will come a time when asking Grandpa about when he was a kid will almost be unnecessary, after all, it will all be online.
Just like our life’s events, we forget things that used to be important to us. When we started to get back into good health,
- What did we do?
- What did we track?
- What did we eliminate from our diet or routine?
- What did we add to our diet or routine?
- How did we feel?
- How hard were the workouts?
- How did certain foods make us feel?
It’s time to revisit the past. In the post “Sometimes, Just Look Back” I spent a little time remembering some hiking. But more than just your fitness routine, spend some time looking at your health as a whole. Think about how you feel now and felt before. Pick a time before fitness, or just a time that was a while ago. Reflect on the “why” you started.
Feelings can change toward things.
- Do you need to track your food again?
- Track your workouts again?
- Reread some old journals?
- Find some old pictures?
Bring your memories back to the front of your mind and learn to love where you were and where you are now. Life is supposed to change, its supposed to be a journey. As cute as babies are, toddlers are great, field trips at school are fun, teens ask great questions, parents become grandparents and that is the way its supposed to be. Enjoy the change. Life will move on with or without you, you might as well enjoy it.
In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. – Abraham Lincoln
