Sure I could be a little better. But I could be a lot worse too. I’ll take a little over a lot, thank you.

Like most of America, I have been on vacation celebrating the fourth of July. Happy Birthday America!  Vacation is wonderful but it is not the ideal time to be practicing a healthy lifestyle.  And since I only recently started my journey, I really didn’t want to screw up.  I was extremely optimistic that I could stay on track while we were away.  I packed lots of healthy foods and workout clothes (although the truth is that we were in New Hampshire and workout clothes tend to be what I would wear anyway).  I brought my sneakers and my ipod.  I made Steve make room in the car for the jogging stroller.  I had big plans.  I envisioned cooking at home every night; fresh fish and locally grown vegetables.  I saw myself running along the beach with the girls in the morning and taking long strolls through the neighborhood with the whole family at night.  I even contemplated looking at local yoga studios to see if I could take a class or two while I was there.  Things didn’t exactly happen the way that I hoped.

Instead, I spent a lot of time lounging on the deck at the house or on a raft at the beach.  I ate a burger and fries when we went out to dinner one night.  I kept the maker of Corona in business.  I only took my sneakers out once…to get to something else in my suitcase.  And, the jogging stroller is still packed in the car (Steve is still annoyed with me for making him pack it so I don’t think he is going to be the one to unpack it).   

I was feeling really guilty about the fact that I have made this resolution to get healthier and yet I wasn’t being very healthy.  I realized that guilt wasn’t going to help me to get back on track, so I started to think about all of the things that I did right this week:

I made it a point to snack on lots of fruits and vegetables throughout the week.  Whenever I drank coffee, I held the sugar.  I didn’t drink soda but I did drink lots of water.  And, a benefit of vacationing in New Hampshire, a lot of the food that we bought was locally grown, raised, or produced. 

I realized that there is no doubt that I could do a little better.  But, I could also be doing a lot worse.  I’m not saying that as long as I don’t have to be hoisted out of bed by a crane that I am going to be happy with where I am at.  What I am saying is on my spectrum of best to worst, I am a hell of a lot closer to being my best than being my worst.  

Until next time…