Grace. Such a simple word, but so complex. It took me years to learn to give myself grace in my health journey. For so long, I was bound by rules and expectations I was never meant to live. In His mercy, God gently pulled me out and taught me to take care of my body so I can do what He is calling me to do … not so it will look a certain way. As I stated on stage this week I had to learn to pour more into myself so that I am able to pour into you all. I have learned to give myself grace.
As we enter the midpoint of the bootcamp, recognize this is an opportunity to track your progress, not to beat yourself up. Give yourself some grace when it comes to this fitness journey.
Here are 5 ways to apply GRACE to your health and fitness.
G: Give yourself grace.
Your health journey is not going to be perfect. Your eating habits, movement, and body will not be perfect. This is ok. We don’t have to expect perfection in our health or fitness journey. What we need to expect from ourselves is that we will do our best and give all that we have to improve our health and wellness, but we do not have to be perfect.
R – Respect and accept yourself where you are.
Ask any seasoned mother about sleepless nights with a newborn and she will reassuringly say, “This, too, will pass. You will sleep again, I promise.”
For some of you this may be your first camp, or it may be your fifth but you are coming off any illness or it may be your 13 year with TFC, whatever your season you must respect it and work with it. You may be used to eating or moving a particular way, then BAM something unexpected happens. It’s easy to expect our lives to remain the same, but they don’t and we have to respect where we are at the moment. Our knees may be bad, our we are a little more stressed at work or life may have brough about some significant changes that effect our workout schedules or ability to exercise in ways that we used to. We get frustrated when we don’t live up to our own expectations. Recognize this is a season and allow yourself to adjust for the time being. Do what you can do on the stage you’re in, and continue to strive to treat your temple right and give 110% from where you are currently. As life shifts and changes, so should your attitude about your fitness shift and change.
A – Absorb Good nutrients and (be) Active
Many of you give yourself a ton of grace when it comes to cheating, consuming cookies, ice cream, and wine, having multiple cheat days and remaining undisciplined with your meals. But you need to eat good nutrients. When we fuel our bodies with the good food, colorful food, food rich in nutrients, we set ourselves up to get the desired results, weight loss, better lab results and stronger bodies.
(be) Active
I know I am cheating and giving you two “A’s”, but I couldn’t include one without the other. Move your body more. When you come to the bootcamp, become fully engaged. Give 110% of yourself to each workout and maybe take an extra class. Or outside of the camp take the stairs more, park further away, do some yardwork, but stay active even when not in bootcamp.
C – Cherish your uniquely created body
All of our bodies are beautiful and diverse. Think about some of the wonderful attributes you may have, that are uniquely you.
- Naturally curly hair
- Brown eyes
- Dark skin
- Under 5’4”
- Nut allergy
- Curl your tongue
- Taller than 5’8”
- Dairy issues
- Natural black hair
Would you agree that every one of those physical differences is just how God made us? How we look is a combination of the genes our biological parents had and His hand in it. We know this and we don’t question it. If we can accept these as ways God made us, why do we have such a hard time accepting that he created us with different body frames and sizes? We may not love every part of our body, but we can learn to be content with it when we remind ourselves we are more than our body.
E – Emphasize the positive
Science has begun to realize the power of positive thinking Focused, repetitive mental activity can affect changes in your brain’s structure, wiring, and capabilities. You can actually retrain your brain to be more positive. Self-doubt, comparison, criticism and unrealistic expectations of ourselves, do not make for a pleasant midpoint. This is why you must intentionally focus on the positive aspects of our body and how well you are taking care of it. This is not the time to freak out because you did not achieve the results you think you should have, this is the time to exercise grace with yourself and think optimistically, like you made it through 3 weeks, your body is improving even if it’s not at the rate you want and you are getting healthier no matter how many pushups you did or did not do.
You may not move like you used to. You may have stretch marks. You may have padding around your hips. BUT – Life is better with grace. It brings you more joy, more happiness, more laughter, more contentment. Embrace the grace. No Mess
