You Know What Ruffles My Feathers? Part II
I received a lot of feedback regarding my post entitled “You Know What Ruffles My Feathers?” so I decided I want to hop back onto my YKWRMF Soap Box again (If you haven’t noticed I have great appreciation for acronyms)! Here we go….
It drives me absolutely bonkers when gyms host “Member Appreciation Days” where they serve pizza for dinner and cake for desert! REALLY?! This is absolutely insane! I used to belong to a gym here in Chicago (I ain’t saying NO NAMES) that would blow up balloons like it was nobody’s business for their membership appreciation days, which started after work because real members don’t go to work out at 5am like I did! They would have crazy music and pizza! PIZZA at the gym?!!! That’s like an alcoholic walking into a church and being handed a Corona! NO BUENO people!
Something else that gets me is a vending machine in a work out area with nothing healthy in it. At my condo complex there is a vending machine and I thought to myself “That’s cool…there must be healthy options in there.” So I walked up and saw Doritos, Hawaiian punch, etc. I thought I was being Punk’d! I held onto my heart and and had to control my breathing. I had been dooped! What the world? If I see that vending machine broken into I know someone relapsed. If you see it broken into, I was the one who relapsed!
This past weekend I saw a woman in the workout area on the stair climber machine wearing jeans and thick soled heels. NOW look, let me preface this…I LOVE JESUS, but when I saw that woman wearing jeans and heels, on the machine that I almost past out on the night before, I wanted to karate chop her in the neck so badly! My ego was bruised and my brain was confused…how can someone work out with jeans on? When I workout I feel like someone is injecting cement into my legs and so the thought of wearing jeans boggles my mind. AND HEELS? Granted they were thick soled rubber platform thingies, but really? Aint nobody got time fo that!
YOU Know What REALLY Ruffles My Feathers? That feeling of CRAZY soreness you get after doing squats or lunges! You know that feeling when you wake up the next day and you start to cry as you think about your journey to the toilet? Or that feeling when you go on a 6.3 mile walk with your friends and your legs randomly lock as if you are going to pass out? Or that feeling of rolling out of your car and hoping nobody is looking at you because they will think you are either physically hurt or 15 months pregnant! Don’t get me wrong, I like the achy feeling because it says I accomplished something while I worked out the night before. BUT I wish, I just wish, I would experience that pain when I don’t work out. Wouldn’t that make sense? Here I am on this journey to be a healthy better me but I need to pick my leg up in order to cross them at a work meeting! THAT’S CRAZY! If people were to feel like that if we DIDN’T work out there would be NO WSWE, NO Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or whatever other crazy weight blog or program out there! Everyone would be skinny and healthy because no one would want that pain! NO ONE!!! I need an Ibuprofen just thinking about it!
Ok…let me get off my box. I know this is all silly AND honest but on a serious note the one thing that has really ruffled my feathers in this season is recognizing my weight issue has been years long. I remember wearing clothes in 8th grade that would hide my body because I thought I was overweight. I remember comparing myself to other girls and thinking how much bigger I was. As an adult I look at those pictures and have no desire to be as thin as I was at that time, I would look sick, but you couldn’t tell me that when I was in 8th grade! These memories confirm why my journey this time around is different. My weight is more than just the physical aspect. It’s emotional. It’s spiritual. It’s deeper than what the eye sees. I have learned what triggers my eating. I have learned I can be lazy. I am learning that I need to make the time and sacrifices necessary to take care of this temple God has entrusted me with. The weight is slowly coming off but this time, this time the shackles are as well! This isn’t about a quick fix to look good in jeans (although that will happen), this is about leading a lifestyle that is pleasing to God. It’s about leading a courageous life that will allow my husband and I to make our mark in the kingdom. It’s about one day having a daughter and watching her look at herself in the mirror confidently because that is what her Mommy does. The more weight I lose the more those shackles fall and my friends, I can’t wait to be shackle-less!
Join me!
Be encouraged today…We can do this…The best is yet to come!
Madelynn
“Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32