One of the small blessings in my life is I rarely, and I mean rarely get sick. This blessing is balanced by the horrible back and migraine headaches, but, I am ok with that. My family on the other hand were blessed with the opposite balance. My youngest Sage, poor girl, is going through a flare up of her Eczema and a very unfortunate case of Hand Foot Mouth and is in constant pain of the sum of those two yucky issues. My oldest is going through a flare up of her Eczema and is constantly complaining and scratching. Amy, is now complaining of aches in her Joints, a sore throat, and exhaustion. So the Girls are down and out for the count and the Boys and I to this point are just fine. However, historically speaking, my Boys should be getting something too and I will skirt by again with no issue.
The issue I just made it through was the Easter Holiday. I worked my butt off last month preparing for 3 weigh-ins during the Easter Weekend. As of Friday I had made it down to give myself a 5 pound buffer for my goals. The first 2 weigh-ins worked out fine, by the Third I was very grateful for the buffer I gave myself as I gained 2 pounds after the Holiday celebrations. Comparing to past Holiday’s I actually felt I did really well with the Food. I did not consume any sweats and focused on the choices of courses that I ate at meals, still the calories were a bit up and the exercise was a bit down and the sum of that equation was 2 pounds. Thank goodness for a buffer.
So, I am going to chalk this week up as a week to focus on balance. Going back to my love of reading Mark Twain once said: “What is joy without sorrow? What is success without failure? What is a win without a loss? What is health without illness? You have to experience each if you are to appreciate the other. There is always going to be suffering. It is how you look at your suffering, how you deal with it, that will define you.”
This quote was screaming in my head this morning during my workout and into my reflection period. It is funny because I felt a bit of, I guess, what can be considered self-pity. Why do I seem to experience more of the suffering that I do of the victories. In quick time though I kicked myself in the rear and said count your freaking blessings Travis! I am married to a beautifully perfect woman, I have 4 fantastic kids, I am able to support that family, I don’t get sick, and I have lost a lot a weight. With that lost weight my back issues have gotten better, my headaches have all but ceased, and I can walk and run when ever and where ever I want.
There are struggles in life, we all go through them. It is through those struggles that we gain the insight to make the victories more potent, the joys more sweet, and our lives gloriously happy.
My name is Travis, and I am here to heal myself.