Now that I’ve settled on running for Chloe, she’s kind of rubbed off in other areas of my life. For example, at the grocery store, I’m always asked if I need help taking my purchase out to the car. I used to always say, “No, I’m young and able.” If I had a child with me, I would say that I had plenty of help (the truth). My goal for much my life was to have my body age like my dance teachers’ bodies had aged. Because of the families at I Run 4 Michael, I’m taking a different look at people around me and realizing that my teachers were exceptional.
If I am able to do something, I am more likely to do it now that I’ve realized that some people cannot. So once my groceries are rung up and I’ve paid and everything is ready to be loaded into the car, I’m going to handle the groceries myself. Because my in-laws cannot.
We helped a mature, not elderly, couple at our store over the weekend. I would shop with the husband and walk a hundred outfits to the wife in a chair in the front of the store if needed. Because she could not.
By changing my perspective from “doing because I can” to “doing because others cannot,” my own awareness is elevated, and I hope that makes me a more beautiful person.
When my children were quite young, I worked on having a positive attitude 100% of the time. I think positivity makes everything more beautiful. I slid away from that a long time ago. I’m sad that it happened.
Why do anything at all? Because I have the opportunity to make everything inside me and around me more beautiful, and I am grateful to have realized this.