“Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t
wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.”
Earl Nightingale
(1921-1989, American Radio Announcer, Author, Speaker, Co-founder of Nightingale-Conant Corp.)
The picture above was taken last August when my husband and I went on a cruise during our anniversary week. When we stopped in Cozumel, MX, we went on a dolphin adventure and were able to get in the water and actually touch and interact with live dolphins. I have to admit that the first thing I think of when I look at that picture is what fun we had. That had to be the highlight of the whole trip for me although I enjoyed all of it. The second thing I think of is how fat I look! How weird my hair looks is the third thing, but, hey, it was 100 degrees and 95% humidity, and I had been wearing a hat, so that’s what happens to naturally curly hair under those conditions! The important thing is I didn’t let my fat or my crazy hair keep me from enjoying those very special moments with Pacal, the dolphin.
There was a time when I wouldn’t have agreed to sign up for the excursion because I would think about my fat first. I would think I would be too fat to put on a bathing suit in public, much less have my picture taken. I missed out on so much because I thought I was too fat to participate in life. And many of those years when I wouldn’t participate, I weighed far less than I did last summer.
Our body image is how we feel about our body just as self esteem is how we feel about ourselves in general. I used to have an awful body image, and I also had very low self esteem. I let life pass me by back in those dark, depressing days. But with some support and very good advice, I learned to start living. Today. Right this minute. Not when I lost 50 pounds or when my hair was perfect or when any other self-imposed restriction was met. I was terrified the first time I went to the beach with the man who is now my beloved husband. But I put on that bathing suit, and I stepped out there in front of him and God and everyone else, and no one openly made fun of me. The world didn’t end. And I had fun. It was about time!
There are some things I’m not physically able to do right now. Years of carrying excess weight has put a strain on this body of mine. I can’t ever go back to my younger, more flexible days and relive them. But I have every single day, every single moment to live now. No more waiting. I’m savoring every single minute. For the rest of my life!
