It Is What It Is

My newest favorite four-letter word: tri shorts.

As I dance that sweet line between 195 and 200 pounds down (200 more days than not, but we’re not calling it official yet until consistent for a certain period of time), I still find myself in that great wrestling match of figuring out my body.  My body does so many amazing things that it has never done before, and yet I still get stuck on that teeter between how my head sees me and the person that I can see in front of my face that almost seems surreal today.  It’s so hard to absorb reality.

People often forget that not all my goals are physical.  Just like what is publicly presented and what I share isn’t 100% of what I do professionally or personally, or what my priorities are, there are other things that are being worked on, focused on, and changing.  One of the goals I have been working on through this journey of holistic wellness has been acceptance–attacking this very battle I speak of above, to come to a place where there isn’t a disconnect in how I perceive and view myself inside and out.  To learn to accept myself just the way I am.

Acceptance.

I can’t begin to tell you the spiritual and emotional struggle this has been and I’m not going to hash out on this platform the highly personal work on what it’s taken me to start to make some progress in this area and the work that continues to still go on.  But, per usual, let’s chat–I am happy to share my experience on a one-on-one level, because I know I’m not alone in this struggle.

But, I will give you some glimpse into this–I’ve spoken before about how the loose skin on my body bothers me.  Yes, vain, I know.  I’ve also spoken how the loose skin on my upper arms pulls on my neck and shoulders and causes pain, and how the loose skin on my thighs pools on my thighs and around the top of my knees and can cause pressure on my legs.  Those things I can get over, it’s part of life…compression capris cover a multitude of sin.  In running.  I’ve sucked it up and donned the cycling shorts for a year now, but staring down triathlon race day…there’s a whole other head game in play realizing I have to run in shorts.

Now, God bless my coach, not even realizing my irrational feelings about shorts (realize, I have not owned shorts in my wardrobe in decades), has actually assigned my workouts recently to be in tri shorts (shorter inseam than my cycling-specific shorts) so that I am running in them to be used to them on race day–I’ve cycled in them plenty.  I’ve done a few super short runs off the bike with them, but today I took them for a full 5k to see the comfort at that distance as that is the distance of the run for this upcoming weekend’s sprint tri.

I was pleasantly surprised at the comfort level, I expected some technical issues that thankfully didn’t arise, but I will be prepared on race day just in case.  Still have some more runs this week, so we’ll see what happens.  As far as how I felt about it, that was a different story…here’s the view:

Acceptance.

Do I like how I look here? No. Not even a little bit.  I see every inch of the sagging skin that I despise. But here’s what I’ve also learned–I see a woman that had a strong effort this morning running up and down the dam and equestrian center coming within 1:40 of my 5k PR that was achieved on flat course.  I see a woman that spent her morning communing with God, engaging with Him on so many issues close to her heart ranging from personal matters to professional matters and everything in between before doing anything else.  I see a woman that is imperfect, has yet to figure out how to not conduct business on a day off, actually spent a few hours unpacking boxes today, and continues to be blown away daily by how awesome that God has been faithful because she has been faithful.  The negative and the positive can coexist.

It is what it is.

Acceptance doesn’t mean I have to like what I see.  It means that I take it for what it is.  It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is.

I can’t go back and change the past.  I don’t have a crystal ball to know God’s plan for the future.  But I can live in the present.  I can do my best, each and every day to be engaged with the Holy Spirit and to carry out God’s will for me.  One imperfect step at a time. And I think that’s a pretty good goal.