On the Bright Side

My good friend, Maria, once said something to me that has resonated ever since. It wasn’t rocket science, it was just the cold hard truth. She held up a mirror to a list of excuses I was making and just said, “It’s all a matter of priorities. It (in this case, taking care of myself) is either important to you, or it isn’t. There are no excuses, only priorities.” Ouch. The truth hurts, but you can’t run from it. It was ages ago, when my kids were very little and she was still in the envious position of life-before-kids. I was lamenting to her on the phone about how difficult it was to lose the baby weight. Cooking healthy foods and working out seemed insurmountable. I was working full time, had two small kids, I was tired all the time, blah, blah, blah. My initial reaction to being called out for my excuse making was, “Sure, easy for you to say. You don’t have this...” excuse... excuse. I couldn’t escape the truth that all of my list of “reasons” for not doing the very thin...