Skip to main content

What I Wish I'd Known Back Then...

Yesterday, I had the awesome opportunity to speak to a group of approximately 30 young girls, ranging in age from 9-15 years of age. Having been one who grew up kind of "lost", due to my father's passing and an abusive mother and brother, giving back and helping other kids weighs heavy on my heart. Luckily, after years of searching, questioning and praying, I found ME again. For the first time in my life, I am no longer running from who I am. Am I perfect? Nope, nor do I want to be. But I no longer feel the need to apologize for having big dreams or wanting to inspire other people. I just wish someone had shared with my teenage self that it was OK to be ME and that if I love myself, that's really all I need. Therefore, having the opportunity to share my story with these girls yesterday was so empowering. 

  1. It's OK to be smart and driven. One young gal voiced a concern to me that "boys don't like smart women." She is right. Boys don't, but I promised her that real men are not intimidated by intelligent women. Men, please prove me right on this one. 
  2. It's OK to not have all the answers. Even now, I don't have the answers to certain aspects of my life. That's what life is: a constant discovery of ourselves and how to be the best possible person I can be. If I had all the answers, I would be bored in a heartbeat. I need to be challenged mentally and that's OK.
  3. Be at peace with your femininity and throwing elbows. As one who grew up playing sports and still has an obsession with them to this day, it took me a long time to discover this one. I have never been the "pretty girl". In fact, I recently had to admit that, honestly, I have never felt beautiful a single day in my life.  I shared my struggles of almost dying from anorexia in college, striving to be someone that society told me I needed to be. That just isn't who I am. However, I do know that I can play golf in 3 inch heels if I need to. (Hey, sometimes you need to just shut the fellas up.) As a woman, I don't have to choose one or the other. 
  4. I reminded them the boy they're crushing on now will probably grow up to be a loser. One little gal asked if I remembered my high school crush. I admitted that I did (and do). He never looked my way in high school, but now I can go have a beer with him and not have to worry about him remembering me the way I was in high school. I got a good friend out of never admitting it. That being said, he isn't a loser, but the rest sure are. (Whew! Thank God for unanswered prayers.)
  5. Travel the world before settling down in one place. I shared photos with them of my Super Bowl trips to Miami, my weekends in Philly, my trips to San Francisco wineries (Hey, they'll learn soon enough anyway) and all of the mountains I hiked. Each trip led me closer to who I am today.


Knowing I might have inspired one girl who can change the world makes my heart overflow. Life really is that simple when we get out of our own way.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day One

Today was day one of getting up at 5 a.m. to meet with my trainer. I was actually up early, fearful I would oversleep. I ended up getting to the gym early & was able to squeeze in some cardio, which was good for my achilles. In the early stages, I am not sure how long it take to warmup, drive there, etc so I figured I'd set the tone right from day one by being early.  After meeting Eli, my trainer, we went over all the standard contract stuff and took some measurements. Talk about a wake-up call. I am not going to post them here 'cause quite frankly, it is no one's business but mine. However, it made me see just how much 3 D&Cs and an achilles injury in the past 18 months has really affected my body. Putting it down on paper made it real and it motivated me to say "Never again." Getting to the gym early was easier than I thought. Yes, it's day one and I'm sure that will change, but I used to do it every single day when I was on the radio. I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reflections & Realizations

After weeks of not working out and traveling, I stepped on the scale Monday to my highest weight ever. Granted a lot of it is indeed fluid, but still, it was a sign that I needed to get back to focusing on my health. After busting my head wide open and battling the concussion, I was lazy. I was lazy in not just my weight loss battle, but all aspects of my life. The doctor warned me that I might have some slight depression/mind fog from the concussion, but I just shrugged it off. Well, Monday it dawned on me that he was right and it was time to crack down on my mind crack. Yesterday, I was getting ready to head to the gym and sign up with my new trainer. (Yeah I dropped the other one. We just weren't clicking and he was way too focused on the scale. Being a recovered anorexic, I just couldn't deal with that.) I was walking out the door, realizing I had a huge sense of dread and anxiety inside me, just waiting to bust out. In the past, I would have ignored those feelings and...
Post a Comment
Read more

Arthritis 5k Fail

I was supposed to run the Jingle Bell 5k this a.m. Ironically, I woke up with joint pain so severe that I couldn't get out of bed at a normal time, much less walk a 5k. Once again, I failed. With the recent snowstorm, I haven't moved with purpose in several weeks. I have no desire to workout. Why? I see no point. No matter what I do, the scale doesn't budge any direction but up. I'm not sure where to go from here, but I know this: I am lost. 
Post a Comment
Read more