Fitness and Fits

My Prince, after completing his 1st half marathon this summer!

Mel Joulwan, Paleo blogger and author the amazing Well Fed cookbooks, recently included a link in her digital newsletter to a fantastic 2013 blog post titled 10 Things I Want My Daughter to Know About Working Out. 

Written by the mother of a young girl, it emphasizes that fitness is not about looking great in a slinky dress or about checking yet another box off your to-do list every day. Her list also makes it clear that it's not about being a super-athlete or part of the gym-goers club. It's about taking care of yourself. 

She notes that she hopes her daughter will grow up in the habit of choosing to be physically active because it is part of cultivating larger schemes of good habits and opens doors to wonderful opportunities - hiking or biking in woods enjoying the fresh air, for example. I hope at some point to build on this post at my other blog, because I was struck by how many of her points were also true of clean eating. 

But I was also struck by the number of people in the comments section having fits! Not everyone can exercise, and certainly many of us don't enjoy traditional work out routines, and that's both fine and completely understandable. But I was shocked at how many people objected to simple ideas like wanting to take care of oneself. It is appalling to me that we could live in a society that not only doesn't value self-responsibility enough to consider it a virtue, but that actually bashes people for personally valuing it! I was reminded of an article I saw recently about how people are actually becoming disabled by choice (aka "transabled").

Rather than get depressed by how ridiculously warped people's ideas can be, I decided instead to take these things as a reminder to appreciate the people in my life with the kinds of values and motivations I love, respect, and aspire to.

So thank you. 

Thank you for modeling for me the kind of discipline it takes to learn a new skill, and the pride that goes with making something worthy and lovely using talents long honed. Thank you for the energy and creativity you pour into the challenges and opportunities you tackle every day. Thank you for showing me what it looks like to offer grace and encouragement when someone dives headlong into something they're passionate about, even if it isn't for you. Like the little girl the Wellfesto blog post was intended for, I am blessed to be influenced and encouraged by people who choose to offer their best, rather than trying to drag others down to a lower common denominator. And for that, I am thankful.