It's been a week since I started exercising and today Vince said "It really shows today, your skin looks better, you seem happier, you look like you feel better in general."

Just do it...

"Failing to do right is just as much sin as doing wrong."

-Billy Graham, The Journey

Walking Makes it Better

Today I decided to participate in a walk-o-thon.

This is the first charitable thing I do as an adult. Well, I give money when I see the tables in the mall, or when kids come and ring on the bell, but I myself have never participated physically in anyhting before. My goal was to raise a tiny sum of 200$ and walk 10km. The proceeds will mostly go to a maternity hospital in Armenia and a part will go to Foundation of Stars children's health research.

Admitting Defeat

People with no balance should not stand on one foot, leaning against a non-stationary object.

I came to this conclusion while waxing my legs in the kitchen. I was standing on my left foot, with the right one up on an upside-down 3 gallon bucket. As I was talking to Margo and not really paying attention to what I was doing, I failed to notice that every time I moved, the bucket slid along the floor. Granted it was only a few millimeters at a time, but it was still enough to sporadically cause me to lose balance. When I uttered that statement, loudly (mostly to myself as an observation) she first looked at me confused, but upon noticing my stance, she laughed out loud and said "nice one, I’ll remember that."

This may sound crazy to you, but that one sentence, that small observation led to a bigger truth: We all know our limitations, yet we never accept them. We know we shouldn't do something, or that we can't (are incapable of) do said thing, but we still try. Perhaps it's to prove something to ourselves or to someone else. Maybe we do it to show off. Maybe we just forgot we couldn't. The point is that we try, even as we know we shouldn't. We push ourselves, knowing that we are causing harm. We persevere, sometimes unnecessarily, and end up disappointed or discouraged.

We then blame ourselves; we question our abilities, our decisions. We try to think of what we will do next time to succeed, all the while not stopping to think that maybe we weren't meant to succeed at this particular thing. We fail to realize that we do not have to be the best at everything, or able to do all that others do. And why do we do this? Simple: we are incapable of admitting defeat. 

If we accept our shortcomings and thereby accept defeat (so to speak), accept that we cannot do everything, we will grow to understand and respect our limitations. By doing so, we can stop wasting our time and energy trying to be perfect.