Article by Wendy McCance
My oldest daughter has always been wise for her years. A variety of early struggles made it so that she grew up too fast. I like to think of her as a wise old soul. Sometimes her thoughts about how to live her life and how you should treat others simply amazes me. Tonight we were looking over an email she sent me with pages of all of the things that inspire and motivate her to take action. She is a true health nut and loves staying active.
The email that she sent had pages of pictures and sayings. Some of the pictures were of people doing yoga poses and beautifully created healthy meals. There was a poster of Dr. Oz’s top 100 best foods to have in the house, inspirational thoughts such as “you can’t get much done in life if you just work on the days you feel good”-Jerry West and “I don’t count my sit-ups; I only start counting when it starts hurting because they are the only ones that count! No pain, no gain.”-Muhammad Ali. There were also snippets of ideas my daughter had written.
Looking at the collage was like looking at all of her core beliefs. I am so proud of the woman she is turning into. As we were discussing the email and what was important to her in her life, we came to the conclusion that these motivational tools should be hung up around the house. I was feeling inspired as well just by looking at these images. All of a sudden I jumped up and tried a few of the yoga poses. I just had to know if I could do them (kinda, but not very well). I realized that if we had these images hung up that I would feel ambitious about working out. I wanted to hang the pictures of the healthy foods up on the refrigerator as motivation to think about my choices before eating. The pictures are so enticing that I swear I felt like I could crave the healthy stuff.
We decided that tomorrow we will print out our favorite images and hang them in places (mainly the kitchen) where they will have the biggest impact. We are also going to team up to encourage each other to continue eating healthy and exercising. Sometimes the best moments are when you stop and really listen to your children. You never know what they can teach you.
Wendy McCance
To contact Wendy McCance about a writing assignment, interview or speaking engagement, please email her at: [email protected]
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Boy you sure hit this one on the head! One for the kids!
Hi Liz, Thanks so much. I really appreciate the supportive comments.
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