Every year, as soon as the holidays are over the commercials for weight loss, gym memberships, and home workout equipment begin.  Sprinkle in the ones for vacations and cruises while you’re putting on your snow boots and yet another “big sweater” and you start to  seriously think about weight loss, swimsuits and sailing the high seas. Even if you don’t sit and watch the commercials, they do work; which reminds me of a great quote by Jerry Seinfeld, ” Who are the ad wizards that come up with these things?”

In several episodes the Girls sit in the kitchen contemplating ways to make themselves look better or feel better for an upcoming event. My favorite episode is when they are invited to a friends annual swim party.  While Sophia is baking a cake to gain back the one pound that she lost, the girls reminisce about the many ways that they tried to improve their appearances.  In the end, they eat the cake because Rose reveals that the party has been set back a day, leaving them to worry about dieting tomorrow.

Oh tomorrow! It’s always the best time to start a diet. We all know the old saying ” Why put off for tomorrow what we can do today.” Although it rings true and has some wisdom behind it, I feel that tomorrow is very important when dieting. If we stumble today, we always have tomorrow. I am not saying that we should put everything off, just that one little stumble doesn’t mean that we should give up and throw in the towel.

Many times I have given up. If I over-ate I would sometimes just throw away the entire week and make a self promise to start over “on Monday”. Why not tomorrow? My failures usually happened mid-week and Monday was so far away. It was like giving myself permission to just eat my way through the weekend.

I have never been a skinny person and I never will be. I just want to be healthy and to like what I see in the mirror. Sometimes what we see in the mirror has nothing to do with diet or exercise. It has to do with happiness. Does your self-image make you smile?

I, at times, struggle with my self-image.  Some days you just feel ugly, other days you feel great. Do you ever have those days when your hair does exactly what you want it to? I do and it’s often after weeks of hating it and I just made that “cut it all off” appointment. The appointment gets canceled and the next day is…well.. a bad hair day!

Jumping from dieting to a bad hair day may seem like a big leap, but really it’s not. Everything about our outward appearance affects our inner self. I am not saying that one only feels good if they are beautiful and perfectly put together. Sometimes I feel my best when I’m in my comfy clothes, with no make up and a pony tail. It has been in those moments that I catch my husband looking at me. In my mind he’s thinking, ” Please go fix yourself up”. But his eyes say something different, they say ” I love you just like that”. This is not to say walk around like a slob because he’ll love you anyway. It’s just an example that you are beautiful to those that love you whether you are in full make up and high heels or your oldest, rattyist bathrobe looking like you need an IV of caffeine.

I have found that the best path to looking great and feeling great is to take care of ourselves both physically and mentally.  You don’t have to be skinny, wear expensive clothes or have a face that is blemish and wrinkle free.  You just have to be comfortable being you.  It took me many years to figure this out. Yes, I still fret occasionally about being a little heavy or having gray hair and wrinkles, but I have found that those things really don’t matter too much.  I’ll never be 25 again and I have learned to embrace and love my older self.  To quote Blanche ” I can live with the wrinkles and the sagging as long as I have you girls to grow old with.”  She goes on to turn the compliment into a slam but I digress…

The point of all my ramblings is that as long as we surround ourselves with family and friends that love us we will feel good. We need to stop being so caught up in attaining things that we don’t need just to make us happy.  When your feet hit the floor in the morning, you and only you can decide what kind of day it’s going to be.

Yes there are outside forces that we have no control over. The key is how you handle it. There will still be bad hair days and times that we open our closet and nothing fits. There will be last-minute meetings, cancellations and there are people out there that want to tear you down or really just don’t like you.  Your attitude toward these things is what makes a difference.

Be happy with yourself.  Don’t give up if you’re dieting,  don’t toss out all of your make up and please don’t just whack your hair off in the bathroom! Being happy  with your present self, doesn’t mean that there is no room for change.  It simply means to not be so rough on yourself.  So pull up your pony tail, squeeze into that skirt and face the day with your head held high!  If you stumble today, there is always tomorrow!

Until Next Time…

Thank You for Being a Friend

MLG