Today I’m choosing to say “thank you” to my body! Today I’m changing the narrative in my head that says “You are not good enough” to “I appreciate you.” I appreciate your story, the healthy daughters you have given me, the way you serve me every day, the things you’ve enabled me to do, and where you’ve taken me during my lifetime.

Today I will celebrate you and allow you to rest, recover, regenerate, renew, recharge, refuel, and rejuvenate yourself. Thank you for your continued service. You may not always look or feel exactly how I want or expect you to, but today – I feel you are perfect, and I thank you! I appreciate you!

There was a time when I was ashamed of my body. I was embarrassed, “teased,” and, at times, even felt victimized because of it. I was a late bloomer, largely due to, according to my doctor anyway, being “grossly” underweight. Yeah, some doctors should maybe choose their words more carefully.

I was too embarrassed to undress and change alongside my peers in gym class. I instead discreetly tried to layer my gym clothes over my school clothes, risking dress cuts from my gym teachers.

I was considered “too skinny” until my senior year of high school and called names like toothpick, stick-girl, waif, flat-chested and anorexic.

Mean girls walked towards me in the halls at school, saying things like:

1. “She looks like she is going to break… who would ever want to be with that?”
2. “Oh my God, look how gross she is. She’s so skinny the wind could blow her right over.”
3. “I could flatten her!” – with looks of disgust on their faces.

I ate copious amounts of ice cream and candy bars to try to “fatten up.”  My periods didn’t begin until my senior year of high school, and even then, rarely and infrequently came for the next ten years of my life. I even went on a birth control pill in an attempt to gain weight and “regularize” my periods.

The birth control worked. I grew curves, and found pudges and squishy spots in places that, in my mind, shouldn’t have been there. After a lifetime of feeling too skinny and not enough, the shame of having too many curves came next.

I continued to critique, compare and criticize my body, but this time, I found it to be too much. I still dreaded swimsuit shopping but for different reasons than before. A lifelong obsession with exercise, health, food, and even with my appearance ensued.

Fortunately, I have finally found a balance in those areas. I attribute this newfound freedom and acceptance of myself to exiting California, as well as to leaving some unhealthy relationships, people, and triggers behind me. I think this is what peace feels like, and I hope you all can feel it too!

What Life 2.0 and Wake WANDER Repeat have given to me…

No more exercising and eating “healthfully” because I’m worried about the way my body will look. I eat well, exercise (less), and gently push my body to stay strong so that I have the luxury of a lifestyle that enables me to connect with nature, run for miles, and even backpack in the wilderness for weeks.

My body allows me to explore and adventure with fewer limitations and boundaries. I can only hope that this body will allow me to stick around this planet long enough to see my daughters, and possibly even my hypothetical future grandkids, have their own babies and write their own stories someday.  For this body, I am grateful!

So here I am… no more holding back and no more worrying or feeling that I may appear narcissistic or not good enough, fit enough, strong enough, skinny enough, curvy enough, modest or humble enough if I decide to post a bikini shot.

This is my body, my home… portraying my strength, my weaknesses, my aches and pains, my old age and previously broken bones, my once youthful, and at times prideful and other times shameful and self-loathing self.

This is my body that has grown, housed, and birthed two babies.  It allowed me to carry them, feed them and wrap my arms around them to make them feel safe. It comforted and warmed them when they were cold.

This is the body that has helped me run 3 marathons in the last ten years and dance all night. It has allowed me to explore (by foot!) cities, trails, caves, mountains, glaciers, underground cities, national parks, museums, and remote villages all across the globe.

Simply put, this is me, my body, my home, and the vessel that gives me life and propels me up those mountain peaks, keeps me breathing when I am too busy and preoccupied to think about taking those breaths as well as keeps my heart pumping and blood circulating to all the right places!

It magically and miraculously allows me to smell the fragrant, sweet jasmine during the days as well as that irresistible, toasted garlic bread at night.

It enables me to taste and savor the sweetness of ripe, plump summer raspberries, feel my husband’s warm and steady breath on my neck when we fall asleep at night, observe and revel in the beautiful smiles on my friends’ faces and hear my daughters share something special that happened to them that day or even better, their joyous laughter that warms my heart like nothing else can or does in this world!

Let’s find that same gratitude and love that we feel and give so deeply to our best and most beautiful and warm-hearted friends, and let’s bestow and award a little to ourselves, our souls, and our bodies!

Your body is a temple… treat it accordingly.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/921228_aa2db8b1f71a4ae4988560b2954315fe/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Celebrate it.  Fuel it.  Nourish it.  Cherish it.  Appreciate it.  Strengthen it.  Rest it.  Respect it.  Own it.  LOVE it.

Jemez Hot Springs in Jemez, NM…

For more information on one of my all-time favorite Hot Springs Resorts, check out https://jemezhotsprings.com/ located in Jemez, NM.

Jemez Hot Springs RATES

• 1-Hour Property Pass/Soak: $25 per person
• 2-Hour Property Pass/Soak: $50 per person

Jemez Hot Springs HOURS OF OPERATION

WEDNESDAY TO MONDAY
10:00 AM – 6 PM
TUESDAY: CLOSED

Arrive an hour and 15 minutes prior to closing if you want to soak for one hour, or 2 hours and 15 minutes prior to closing if you want a 2-hour soak.
Occupancy is limited to a maximum of 30 people.

Individuals 14 years and older are welcome.