expectations. we all have them, right?
I just looked up the definition to expectation, and the only thing I got was... "the act of expecting." helpful? Do you ever remember in school when you had to write definitions to science terms or english terms and the teacher would always say, do not use the word in the definition or the sentence, well, I would have gotten this one wrong because that's all I've got. Anyway.
I've been thinking a lot recently, just from some recent conversations i've had with several different women, about the expectations we place on ourselves. This whole losing weight thing really opens doors for some interesting conversations. have you ever had a conversation with someone, and you felt in your heart you wanted to share something deep inside, but you were a bit afraid, then that other person shared from their heart and it made it a little bit easier to let your guard down to share your own stuff. losing weight is kind of like that. it's an outward change of something deeper going on inside, and for some reason, people are drawn to that. especially women. we all want to relate to someone, somehow. let's take a walk through the checkout in the grocery store, shall we? i see, perfect hair, perfect smiles, perfect skin, perfect lives (with a few exceptions), but doesn't it seem that even if someone is having a really hard time in hollywood, they sure look freakin awesome on that magazine cover. maybe we could all use a day with the airbrush machine, any takers? i was talking with a lady from work the other day and she approached me like this, "Ms. Phelan, I heard something really cool about you." me, being me, I said "did someone tell you what I did to my hair?" she laughed at me and had no idea what i was talking about (i put a relaxer on my hair and all of the ladies just wanted to touch it)! She said, i heard you run marathons, hahahaha. I laughed and said, yes, I run, but have only run a 5k, and I was training for a 10k in a couple weeks. and she said, but i hear you work out and i just want to know what you do and what you've done. then she began to tell me her story. It's really cool how it happens. people just talk to me. even more so now than they did before. we are all looking to better ourselves. and make better decisions about our health. so I told her, the toughest decision was the one to get started. then you had to daily tell yourself that you could do it. I wanted to be a runner for 6 years, SIX YEARS. then finally one day, it became my reality. I had to push myself, but it was a decision I made and had to stick with.
so back to expectations. women are really hard on themselves. hard on each other. comparing ourselves to each other. wishing we were different. i want straight hair and the Lord gave me REALLY CURLY hair. we place these expectations on our lives and others lives that it becomes difficult to even like who we are sometimes. are we ever going to be good enough? am i going to be skinny enough? will someone want to be with me? maybe if I didn't have flabby arms. or did you see her hair, her shoes, her stripped socks while running. I mean WHO DOES THAT? (the answer... me). We are bombarded daily with these messages. Do you ever get tired? Weary? discouraged? depressed? all it takes is one. step. at. a. time. a daily decision. people speaking truth in your life. encouragement. YOU. CAN. DO. IT. a healthy expectation. one that you can actually reach. You want to run a 5k? awesome. start by walking first. then start running. knowing beforehand that the journey can be hard, will help with hard walk/run days. surround yourself with people who believe in you. friends who can be your cheerleaders. who want to see you succeed. invite people in to this area. I know for me, it seemed easier to walk this specific journey alone. but once I invited people in to this area, there was so much encouragement, grace, and love. Remember you were created with a purpose. You can do anything you set your mind to! It's hard, this journey, but definitely not impossible!
