My why...

My mom sent me a text the other day saying that she wishes I see what she sees when she looks at me.  She wrote "You see yourself so different than I see you.  I see a beautiful woman, confident, focused, happy and who looks amazing to me".  Now granted, she IS my mom, but I want to see that person all the time too.

I have a big hairy goal of looking at myself in the mirror and seeing what other people see.  Easy peasy, right?

I started on a personal journey two weeks ago in hopes of learning to love me a bit more (remember, that?  I wrote a post about it).  It's something that I have been thinking about for a while now and trying to figure out how I would tackle feeling better about me.  Is it what I eat?  Is it how I workout?  Is it who I surround myself with and what I do with my free time?  The thing is, it's a little of all of that.

Being a new mom, I think we sometimes get into this "everything is about the baby" mindset and we lose sight of other things that are important, ie, ourselves.  It's not that I have let myself go... I just haven't given me the attention I deserve.  You know what I mean?

For the last two weeks I've consciously cleaned up my diet.  No more soda (gah).  I'm shopping on the perimeter of the grocery store.  I'm buying stuff that doesn't have an ingredient list that's a page long.  Today I officially started TWO challenges.  Two.  Two challenges that I'm fully committed to.  The first is called 21 Day Fix.

It's a very clean eating plan couples with 30 minutes workouts that focus on the whole body and a shakeology shake each day.  I'm packing my body full of nutrients, aminos, and vitamins.  I'm taking care of me from the inside!!!  The second challenge is a No Sugar Olympic Challenge.  No added sugar in my diet and workouts provided to me every day but a friend who's a personal trainer with a focus on Olympic sports.  Both are fun, exciting and SUPER hard for me.  But I need to step outside of my comfort zone a little.  It's good for the body AND the soul!

And in these challenges, I'm surrounded by amazing women - some I know and some I don't.  They are all on a personal journey of their own, for whatever reason and we are there to help each other every step.  I'm wanting to come out of these groups with not only knowledge about nutrition that I didn't have before, but maybe some new friends.  But most importantly, I'm hoping I leave these challenges equipped to be a better me.

My daughter deserves to have a mom that doesn't compare herself to others.  She doesn't need a mom who constantly complains about her weight and her thighs and her muffin top.  She doesn't need to grow up wondering how she looks and feeling like there is a list a million miles long that she would like to change about herself, a habit she learned from watching her momma.  I mean look at her, she'll always be beautiful!

My husband deserves to have a wife that believes him when he says I look beautiful, instead of rolling my eyes and listing the top 5 things that day that are bothering me about my body.

My mom deserves a daughter who can look at herself and say "I AM a beautiful woman, who's confident, focused, happy and looks amazing".

Instead of complaining, I'm asking myself - WHY NOT ME?

**Have questions about either of my challenges or think maybe I can help with your journey to feel comfortable in your own skin too?  Email me - thekingerys(at)hotmail(dot)com.  I'd LOVE to talk to you about taking that journey with you!!!**