A mind of a writer is mysterious. The beauty of a writer lies on the writing itself. The heart of a writer can be seen when the ink creates a word. The dangerous mind is a mind full of ideas with an expression of its own creativity. The mind of a writer is dangerous,mysterious and excited to tell a story. Something to think about, something to laugh, something to share, something to learn.
One of the many excuses I have heard is: "I can not do it!"
Can not and will not are two of our very own enemies inside us that limited our abilities to grow and to move forward. We will never know our own strength unless we give it a try and so many times, the first try, second and third might not get us right to the top. Everything has its own process and purposes, including strength, whether it is physically, mentally or spiritually strength. Strength is trained and gained, it is not given or received overnight. It is a journey and process in life, sometimes it is a short ones and many times it is a long one. But one thing for sure is that you will get stronger when you try one day at a time, one foot ahead of the other, one step at a time. A step further is better than a step backward!
What might seemed to be impossible will not be impossible unless you try it, right? Everything seems impossible for those who never try to seek the possibility. A baby will think that walking is impossible, then he tried to walk and succeeded. What seemed to be hard, might not be as hard once you trained yourself to face it.
You are stronger than you think! I used to not being able to do a perfect push up or pull up, now I am able to do any form of push ups and pull up (with some help lol). I used to think that lifting weight is for men who wants huge muscles, but I was so wrong and I am in love with lifting weight now and I could lift heavier weight with squats or on a balance ball, name it! lol!!.
So picture what you want for yourself, set a goal in your mind, get moving and make it happen! A stronger, leaner, healthier, happier, better you is just one step ahead (for starter). I used to see a fitness model and thought, wow she must be crazy to do that. Today, I look at them and I was like "I could do it too with one leg or one arm" ;)
Test yourself and see how far you passed your so called "limitation".
When we are facing struggles, problems, trials and all of those not so fun circumstances, the last words that will come to our mind would be "pure joy". What is so joyful when we are on trial? if anything, that would be unpleasant, uncomfortable, painful and not fun. But yet, the Bible teaches us to consider those moments as pure joy. Consider does not mean it is what it is, but to think outside the box, to fix your mind on a different approach, to see things on a different perspective/angle.
"We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance"
(Romans 5:3).
And then there is another verse who basically says the same thing; to rejoice in the suffering moments! What?? How could I rejoice when my child is very ill? How could I consider it pure joy when my husband just left me for another woman? How could I rejoice when I just get fired from my job? How could God asked me to do such things and if He is a good God, then He would never let anything bad happen to me (or the world). The list of questions, doubts, denials, anger and unanswered questions will always occur and will never end, until we fully understand the power of rejoicing in the midst of our problems, the power of laughing in the midst of an unhappy moments, the power of letting go and let God, the power of faith because there is nothing that you could do as a human being to change it.
It is easier to say it than done it and I am still struggling with that everyday of my life. I am a Christian who loves and believes in God, but when someone treat me unjustly, when I am facing problems, death, sickness, unfairness, etc, I have my "Why God?" moment and I also have my denial moment as well as my complaining and self pity's moments. But, the denial, complaining and self pity's moments do not get me anywhere and those stuff never solved my problems, sheesh, if anything, they make my problems even bigger, complicated and not to mention I am more depressed when I let those thoughts and attitude enter my heart and mind.
This world will never be perfect because of everything and everyone in it are not perfect and therefore the sickness, poverty, famine, war, fight, unjust, etc, will exists simply because we are human with our own pride, strength and weakness and we used it without wisdom, love or compassion for others.
We, human, tend to keep everything for ourselves, our selfishness defeats our own humility or compassion toward others, may it be for other human, animals, plants. We killed animals so that we could have tasty foods, even though we would be fine without eating animals. We destroyed our own environment in the name of comfort and survival. We declared war against other nations in the name of power, politic, religion and wealth. We neglect our own body to live a healthier lifestyle and then we got sick. We failed as a parent to be the role model for our kids, we failed as a child to obey our parents. We failed on a lot of things...yet we blamed God for everything that went wrong in our lives.
However, there are times when we did our best to prevent bad things from happening and they still exists. There are things that is beyond our control and there are things that God allowed us to experience so that we could help other people who are facing the same situation.
There are also things that God allowed us to experience because He wants us to experience His love, power, grace, miracle and blessing. When the doctor told us a long time ago that my dad only had a couple of months to live due to his liver failure/damage, we were devastated, but God allowed it to happen because He then showed us that He healed my dad completely and He is still alive until today.
When my uncle fell deep into the drug addiction's world, we thought he would die. Then, God took my grandpa to heaven and at that moment, my uncle turned his life around to Jesus and he is living the best life today. It takes a death of my grandpa to save my uncle's life. But, we are rejoicing for his life and yes, we mourned when my grandpa died, but we all going to die anyway. Grieve, cry and feel the pain, then get back up and live the rest of your life with gladness. Just because someone die, it does not mean that you must die either. Their job on this earth is finished, they are resting now. Our jobs are not finished yet, so we better live our lives and cherish the moments of being alive.
Consider it a joy or rejoice when we face trials speak about faith, hope, and love. Life happens, whether we like it or not. Surprises comes and go, whether it is a good or bad ones. We could not control everything and we could not control what other people will do to us, we could try to prevent certain things from happening, but everyone of us has a free will to do whatever we want. Some made wise choices, some made bad choices and it caused pain to themselves and other people.
Faith does not mean everything will always be O.K., faith means possibility, faith means ability, faith means chance, faith means you are not alone. God promised to be with us until the end of time (Matthew 28:20) which simply means, we will never going through it all alone. He was there before you were born, He is still here with you and will always be there for you until well..forever. He comes, he stays and will never leaves..HA!
Suffering produces endurance, perseverance and patient. Every athlete or successful people do not just get it, they were going through a LOT of pain, gain, learning, defeating, winning moments. They were going through a hardcore training that requires strength and suffering along the way, for their own good. The stronger you are, the better chance you have to become a champion.
Trial exists to produce endurance, we persevere so that we could be stronger to face life, growing and mature in our faith in order for us to survive the life until the end. Strength is NOT an overnight process! It takes a lifetime of continuous process of training, endurance, perseverance, getting knock down and get back up, determination to become a winner not a loser, focus on the goal ahead instead of the circumstances, which is temporary.
If you want to have a strong healthy body, then trained your body everyday to become stronger. If you want to have a strong mentality, trained yourself to not giving up when life is hard. If you want to have a strong faith, pray and understand God by reading His word and obey Him, trusting Him and train yourself to rejoice even when things go south. Yes, to rejoice takes training! We have the ability to chose how to react when trouble comes. We could trained our soul, mind and body to accept certain things the way it is, to endure, to be happy even when life sucks, to switch our mind from useless thoughts to useful ones, to rejoice when we are pushed down. Do you know that it is very painful for our enemy to see us rejoicing even when they meant evil toward us? Haters hates happy people, their goal is to make your life as miserable as possible just like theirs!! LOL.
Push through your problems, stop complaining and comparing, stop the pity party and the blame game. Push through your pain, reach for that strength, reach for wisdom, be still and know that God is in control.
Hardship builds a strong characters and attitude toward life, which helps a lot when we are under pressure :)
"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him."
Remember my "100 Miles" post that I posted in the beginning of this month? Well, I could happily say that I have finished the challenge today, a day before my birthday! yay!!! Nothing like an early birthday present from you to yourself, right? hmmm that might sound a little weird, but anyway, what I am trying to say is that receiving presents from other people for you is a joyous feeling, but when you do something that benefits yourself for a better you, that is like the best feeling ever. I found it easier to give than receive, I hate being the spotlight, center of attention and I even hate an unexpected surprise. So, when I actually do something for myself, I feel good!
Along the way, I find out that I do not push myself to the limit when I workout. I mean, I run on a regular two to four miles daily, but because I do not have any miles goals in my mind, I do not push myself more. Now that I have a goal in my mind, I am actually capable of running or biking more that my regular miles daily. I did this challenge five days a week for forty minutes to one hour a day, with two rest days, or when I know my body needs more rest. I also did some strength training three times a week along with my cardio and I did not die LOL.
The best way to motivates yourself is to motivates yourself! You must be your number one supporter and fans in order to push yourself. Do not compare your journey to other people's journey because everyone has a different body type, metabolism and goals in mind. Every person has their own workout that works faster for them, but maybe not for you. You must find out what works for your body, lifestyle and goals. I also stay away from those who makes fun of my journey, simply because I know that when I am sixty years old, I would still have toned muscles, running a marathon, have a glowing skin, happy and looks hot (it is a fact, google it) LOL.
I prioritize my health because God gives me this body and I have an obligation to take good care of my own body, so that someday I will not bother my grand children to take care of their sick grandma with hospital bills because grandma did not taking good care of herself when she was younger. Sometimes sickness just happened even though you have been taking care of yourself, but many times, you know exactly why you got sick and that is not right or fair to those who have to taking care of you because of your ignorant and laziness. I eat everything, I do not live in a wrong diet world, but I eat in moderation. You will be surprised of how good healthy foods tastes like and do for your body, try it first before passing judgement.
I rarely get sick, but this month, unfortunately, I got a little sick because I was hiking on a very hot day and I did not have enough water. BIG mistake! So, I got sick for two days and after that I got back on track again and finished strong.
I would like to encourage all of you to start living a happy, fun and healthy lifestyle. Do it for yourself, your kids and the environment. No more excuses, because excuses will not get you places, but moving will do that. Start with a fifteen minutes walking, then increase to twenty, thirty and more. Start with a walk to a jog to a run or bike or swim. Do what works for you! Do it for at least three days a week, once you started working out, your body will wants and requires more from you. Working out is an addiction! HA!
Some helpful tips:
-Drink water before, during and after workout.
-Stretch before and after workout.
-Eat good foods, mostly fruits, nuts, vegetables and good proteins. Eat before and after workout (before: oatmeal, banana, etc. After: Protein Shake, Chicken Breast, etc- Google it)
-Rest and listen to your body.
-Run, swim, hike, bike, walk for at least thirty minutes a day for five days a week.
-Read or watch some workout videos before your workout, it helps you learn new techniques and motivates you as well.
-Do it for or with other people who would be a motivator/inspiration. Stay away from those who does not motivates you to be better. My inspiration is this girl, Jen, check out her Facebook page, like and support her journey!
-Join a health club if that will make you go workout.
-Mix your workout (run-bike-jog-swim for example), also try to burn a lot of calories not just counting the miles. If you are running/biking at the gym, run with some inclines or when you do bike, make sure you watch your RPM and paddle on a high level, increase your level of difficulties every three to four minutes for example.
-Find great places to workout outside your gym (nice hiking trail, run by the beach, etc). My husband and I (plus our dog, Luke) found one new place to workout every weekend. I calculate my miles and calories by using some apps like Nike+ to help me on track.
-Buy some cute and comfortable workout outfits and shoes that you would love to wear and feel good about your body. If you are a runner, find a good socks, shoes and sport bra (women).
-Take it day by day, do not over think it, over analyze it or over do it.
-Take a nice hot shower or cold shower, it helps my muscles to relax.
-Write down your accomplishment each day, write down your workout for the day, also I like to write down some encouragements words.
-Entertained yourself during a workout, may it be with music, videos/books/magazine (when you do bike inside a gym, not when you are running or riding your bike on the street lol), taking pictures before-during resting-after workout, like me (below) LOL!! Before you knew it, you already killed ten miles! woot woot!!
"Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius (born 22 November 1986) is a South African sprint runner. Known as the "Blade Runner" and "the fastest man on no legs", Pistorius, who has a double below-knee amputation, is the world record holder for class T44in the 100, 200 and 400 metres events and runs with the aid of Cheetah Flex-Foot carbon fibre transtibial artificial limbs by Össur. He competes in T44 (single below knee amputees) events though he is actually classified in T43 (double below knee amputee).
Although eligible to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, Pistorius did not qualify for the South African team. Despite achieving third place and a personal best time of 46.25 seconds in the 400 metres in Lucerne, Switzerland, on 16 July 2008, this was short of the Olympic qualification time of 45.55 seconds. He was also not selected by the South African Olympic Committee for the 4 × 400 metres relay team as there were four other runners who had achieved better times. At the 2008 Summer Paralympics, he took the gold medals in the 100, 200 and 400 metres (T44) sprints.
With his 400 metres time of 45.07 seconds on 19 July 2011, he achieved the "A" qualifying standard for the 2011 World Championships and 2012 Summer Olympics. At the Championships, he participated in the 400 metres sprint and the 4 × 400 metres relay. He was eliminated in the semi-final of the 400 metres sprint (finishing last with a time of 46.19 seconds), but, as part of South Africa's silver medal winning relay team, he became the first amputee to win an able-bodied world track medal although he was not selected for the final.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics on 4 August 2012, Pistorius became the first amputee runner to compete at an Olympic Games. In the 400 metres race, he took second place in the first heat of five runners, finishing with a time of 45.44 seconds (his best time of the season so far) to advance to the semi-finals on 5 August. He ran in the second semi-final where he finished eighth with a time of 46.54 seconds." (Source: Wikipedia)
"You're not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have."
In a gesture of camaraderie and respect, Kirani James (R) of Grenada exchanges bibs with Oscar Pistorius (L) of South Africa after the Men's 400m semifinal on Day 9 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 5, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images).
She is the firstAfrican-Americanwoman and first woman of color to win the event. She is also the first American gymnast ever to win both the team and individual all-around gold at the same Olympics.
I love this girl!
She is very humble, beautiful, down to earth and such a strong woman; physically, mentally and spiritually.
I admire her hard work (and her family's sacrifices as well),
I especially admired her faith and humility before God!
A young and bright woman who won gold, a history maker, did the best she could to win, yet she never forget to thank God, unashamed and joyfully serving her creator!
I am going to give myself a birthday present by doing this "100 Miles Challenge."
A friend of mine did that on July and I am doing this on August.
First Day (7.10 Miles) yeah baby!!
Basically,
I will run, swim, bike, hike for a total of (at least) 100 Miles this month.
It is not too much if you start it now!
My fitness level has been up and down this year,
So I am determined to start living healthy again.
I just love the feeling of a healthy body,
the energy level, the good mood, the confidence, the toned muscle, the sharp mind, the strength, the joy of wearing skinny jeans ;)
I am not into "skinny to the bone"-unhealthy- body type,
I am into athletic healthy body!
We have one life, one body, one soul to take care of now,
So we better take very good care of it.
When it comes to working out,
Do what you love to do,
What works for you!
The first step is always the hardest,
Do one step at a time,
Once your body tastes the beauty of being healthy,
Your body will beg you for more challenge.
Educate yourself,
ask your personal Doctor or
ask those who are experts in working out,
hired a trainer if needed,
enroll into a gym,
or use nature as a free and useful place, equipment and tools!
I like working out by myself,
(sometimes I run with my husband and my dog)
but I love support group to lift me up when I am lazy or lose focus.
Find your work out buddy (if you like to do it with others),
Build a support system/group that works for and with your lifestyle,
including telling your spouse to support you in this journey.
Nourish your body with good foods
(healthy food does not mean taste bad),
Give yourself a rest (and treats occasionally lol),
Enjoy life by doing things that you love,
Find a balance in life to fulfilled a better-healthier-happier-life.
Life is God's gift to me,
What I do with my life is my responsibility.
If you do not like what you see or how it makes you feel,
Do something to change it,
Because excuses, complaining, pity party, blame game and comparing
will never do you any good or progress.
Kindness(noun) according to Webster Dictionary means favor, affection, sympathetic nature, benevolence; this word means manifesting a desire to do good/kind.
So basically it is in our nature to have the ability to do something good, a desire to be kind.
Now, the problem is kindness will not happened only by a desire, kindness needs action.
By nature, we have the ability/desire,
by choice we act the desire of our heart to do good or bad.
"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
Ephesians 4:32 ESV
"Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love"
1 John 4:8 ESV
As a Christian, it is our most important commandment in life to love God and others because God is love and to love God means to obey Him (1 John 2:5 and 1 John 5:3).
As a human being, it is impossible to see around us and not having the compassion, desire and ability to do good for other people.
As a normal people, of course we will have good and bad experiences when we offered our kindness to other people, because not everyone is grateful to receive such help.
Not everyone is wired to say "Thank You" or shows appreciation based on their arrogant heart, lack of compassion, prideful behavior or bad experience with people in the past (that includes their upbringing in a family).
So, by nature, God created us with a good seed from him.
But, on the day we were born, we started interact with other human being. That is the first day of us learned and experienced kindness or the opposite.
So, I do not believe that there is a human being who is evil from the day they were born. What they experienced from that day determines their ability to do good or not.
How we live our lives everyday is a choice to do good or evil.
So, the blame game really is just an excuse to run away from being a responsible human being to do the right thing.
I am one of those people who works better with giving than receiving/asking for help. I just do not have the heart to ask other people to help me because I do not want to bother them with my problems. Due to me being an only child, I tend to do everything by myself and I am content with my "alone but not lonely time" according to my dear friend Mara ;)
But, not asking for help when you needed is not the right thing to do in a certain situation.
See, I am a big believer in trying the best and along the way if you think you need help, then you should seek one. But, you tried first!
Doing everything by yourself is insanity at some point. You need other people to help you out, even if it means it might not be the way you want it, but hey..a help is a help, receive it with a grateful heart LOL!
Now, because I prefer giving than asking for help, I am, of course, the people-pleaser group of human.
See, it is not a bad thing to make other people happy, it becomes a bad thing when we forget to understand that we are just a human and we too, need some love and help (say it...help! lol).
What I love the most of being the helper and the people-pleaser person is my ability to make something good happened for others and to see how happy they are when they received it.
Priceless moment!
"In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to givethan to receive.’”
Acts 20:35 ESV
The bad thing is that not everyone appreciate it and not everyone treats me right, many of them were taking advantage of my kindness. I hate those moments, because my kindness turns into anger, sadness and it discouraged me to a point where I hate human and I only see the negative sides of them or I will do no good anymore attitude.
If you are in that situation when you think and know that people are taking advantage of your kindness, think of these:
-You do it for someone that you respect/love the most (may it be God, family, etc)
-You do it for a greater purpose
-You are doing the right thing (even to the wrong people, you are still the good person)
-It is better to chose good over evil
-Its rewarding for you
-Keep in mind that being kind also means being wise!
"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a ESV
What I am trying to say is that when you are kind to other people and you help them and they are taking advantage of you, understand that there is also a boundary of offering your help to other people. If you are in a situation when you are hurt, sad, feel used and even to the point of abused by other people that you helped then maybe you should stop doing that for them.
Of course being kind is a good thing, but being kind without wisdom could be dangerous.
When you do something that is not your job, but you do it anyway out of the goodness of your heart, that is kindness. Even though we do good thing without expecting anything in return, but when kindness means someone used you for their own benefit in a very bad/selfish way, that is not good.
For me, I think kindness is every sacrifice we made for the benefit of other people. May it be energy, time, money, prayer, help, etc.
People tend to appreciate or categorize kindness as in "money" alone and we must admit that money is a big help in people's lives, but kindness is not limited to money alone.
Spending time with a person in need, making a meal for a family who just lost their loved ones, praying with a stranger in a hospital, buy a stranger some food, give your shoes to those in need, helping a child cross a street, give up your seat on a bus for an elderly man, giving water or a home to a homeless dog, answering the phone with a nice voice, not yelling at other people, share some tips on how to make their computer works better, etc..are acts of kindness!
"And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount."
Luke 6:34 ESV
By nature, we all have the ability to do good and be kind to other people.
Whether we do it or not is our choice!
Kindness is a sacrifice for other people's good benefit, not yours.
It is an unselfish act of love and grace.
But, understand that you must be wise to know which/who needs your help and which/who is just using you for every wrong/evil reasons and purposes.
Kindness suppose to do good not the opposite!
Keep in mind that you too are important, precious and beautiful in God's eyes.
Never lose your identity just because you are too busy fulfilling other people's need and lost yourself.
Read this verse:
"We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, andnot to please ourselves."
Romans 15:1
You must be strong to help the weak, this is why it is important to understand that we need to take care of ourselves so that we could take care of other people. Strong does not mean we have to wait to do good until we are "strong" (financially, physically, etc) then do good. Strong as in we know who we are (our faith) in Christ, we understand why we are doing this, we give with what we have to those in need, not just to those who are poor financially, but physically, spiritually and mentally exhausted with life.
This is why we need to be strong because if we are weak, drained and exhausted with our own life, our kindness will turn into complaining, comparing, weary, judgment, asking for credit and all the wrong reasons. Also, we must be strong to say no to those who just used our kindness for bad things out of their greediness, manipulation, laziness, and evil thought.
One more and VERY important thing:
Be kind to your enemy.
They might be one of those people who used you for your kindness for their benefit, but just because you refused to do certain things for them because you know they will use that for all the wrong things, it does not mean you have to be rude to them.
Even if they meant evil toward you,
"Kill" them with kindness ;)
"If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you."
Proverbs 25:22-23
"A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve."
I just do not like the anxiety, the unknown, the uncontrollable mixed emotions!
I just hate looking ahead and see nothing,
or I see something but I could not reach it.
"Waiting Room" for me is a period of time/place in life when we are getting ready for something ahead of us, a process of being and having a better life.
If we are wise enough to wait, learn and moving forward,
those waiting moments in the waiting room are very rewarding in life.
It taught us about being patient, trusting, hoping, surrender and admitting that...
"I am just a human."
We become smarter, wiser, stronger and more mature.
The waiting moments also taught us a lot of things on how to reach the top, how to get ready, how to grasp what we have been wanting- waiting - working for in life.
Sometimes, we rushed things that we are not ready to received and we got burned,
we failed!
Stupidity, impatient and pride are a very bad combination while we are in that waiting moments.
Think of the waiting moment as a step that you need to go through before the next step exists.
There are steps that we could skipped because we mastered them already or they are not that important, but there are steps that needed to be precisely done step by step or you had to start all over again.
But,
many of us stuck in the waiting (moment's) room because we do not want to let go of the past (before the waiting room) and too afraid, too stupid, too lazy to walk to the next room.
We hold on to our past because the future is uncertain,
-understandable but arguable-
How do you know what tomorrow hold if you are too afraid to let go of your past?
Whether it was your golden moment or dark moment..
let it go!
If it is your golden moment,
be proud of it,
keep it as your best memory
and use it to motivates you.
But,
it happened in the past,
you need to let it stay in the past
and create your new golden moments.
If it is your dark moment,
be proud that you get out of it,
keep it as a lesson
and use it to motivates you to be better
or not to do the same mistakes you or the persons who did that to you.
It happened in the past, you need to let it go!
I hate being in the waiting room,
but I keep myself busy in any waiting room,
may it be the dentist, doctor appointment, job interview, waiting for my food or for my next chapter in life.
I try to switch my frustration of being stuck in a waiting room into looking forward for the next room's surprises so that I could move forward.
Once it is my turn to go to the next room,
I am so ready,
sometimes nervous,
excited, scared,
but ready.
Every process in life will either make you stronger or destroy your strength. Choose strong and be strong!
An athlete who won a gold medal did not just win it without training.
It is a long process of dreams, focus, motivation, patient, sacrifices, learning, up and down, sweat, tears, strength, hope, pray, dedication and work, ..in the waiting room..
but the reward is priceless!
-Things that we have seen are history, things that we see now are history in the making, things that we will see are still unknown. But unknown does not always mean bad..it could also mean great, awesome, exciting, better, promising, life changing, blessings-
Katy Perry has her own way to describe the meaning of her songs and I think all of us could relate to a song with many translations into our own life.
There are times in my life when I feel like the words on that song!
My "translation" of that song is that I feel alone, lonely, under appreciated, lost, cannot breath and nobody cares to help out or to at least understand my situation.
Have you ever feel like that in your life?
You feel like life is sometimes required too much out of you and you are drained;
physically, mentally and spiritually.
You feel like there is nothing left to offer for life, but life keep asking you to give more of you.
What else do you want from me, life?
I have given you everything!
Have you ever feel like you are drowning, trying to catch your breath and when you finally could breath again, there is another wave came at your way, slapped you hard and you drowned again,
fighting to survive the life, trying to find a way to breath again.
Trapped, seemed like there is no way out, nobody cares, and problems just keep adding up.
Well, you are not alone because I have my moments like that and in fact, all of us have our moments like that in life.
The problems might not be the same, but the feeling is the same.
We all have our own "luggage" in life!
May it be from our past to present life that will affected our future.
May it be from our parents, surrounding or ourselves.
May it be a temporary ones or a permanent ones.
May it be important, less important, priority, less priority.
But, we still carry that luggage either way.
There are things that we could easily unpack from that luggage, but there are things that still need our cares or attention and therefore we could not unpack it, we must carry it, because we have no other choice. Examples?
Debts that needed to be paid,
Children that needed to be taken care of until they could do it themselves,
Marital problems that needed help,
Health problems that needed your attention,
Piles of work that needed to be finished on a certain due date,
Family member that needed your help because they are unable to survive without your help,
Traumas from death, abusive relationship, mistreated,
etc.
My point is that we all have our own struggling, problem and luggage in life.
Some might have more than others, whether we are responsible for those problems or not, but we must face those problems regardless what or who caused it.
Feels overwhelmed?
Try to unload ALL of your luggage,
write it down,
sort it according to its priority (important, less important).
Then,
sort it according to what you could do by yourself and which one that you needed other people's help.
Ask for others to help you out,
you do not have to do it alone (but if you are literally alone, try to do it one by one according to its level of priority).
Sometimes you just need to unpack the less important luggage,
You need to prioritize your life.
Stop beating yourself up trying to save everyone all at once and neglected yourself and your own family (spouse-children).
Stop thinking that you could do it all by yourself when you have option to share it with others who are involved in it.
Throw away things that are no longer important in your life, scratched it off your list, unpack it from your luggage.
Life's burdens are no joke!
People are fighting with each other, killing each other and even killing themselves because they could not handle it anymore.
The pain, the problems, the "seemed to have no way out" moment, the depression, the needs are way too hard, too much to handle.
You have none left to fulfilled the needs, the expectation from everyone (esp. the loved ones) that you must solve it when you actually could not do it anymore, the pressure are just way too much to handle.
Many people says that those who ended their life are cowards and the list goes on, but they knew nothing about this person. It is easier to say those things because you have an army to help you out when you have problems, you sit on top of gold, or your problems are not as hard as the person who chose to ended his life.
Do you know what it takes to end your own life? Everything!
They found no help, no love, no hope from everyone and everything and therefore death seemed to be a quick way out to ease the pain, to end the problems.
Sadly, it is not.
:(
People who killed themselves left a never ending sadness to their loved ones, who always wondering why they never ask for their help?
The never ending of "Why" and the regret of what could have happened had that person asked for their help/support.
There is always hope behind every crisis,
There is always a way out,
There is always someone who is willing to help you out!
Please do not kill yourself,
Because though you are broken, you are still precious and there is always someone who loves you.
Life could be overwhelming but do not give up!
If you think you cannot take it anymore and needs someone to talk to, please check out these websites:
My prayers and love for you today as you read my post and thinking that you are alone, but I promise you that you are not alone.
Knowing that you are stronger, able and precious.
You deserve to live a good life,
so please do not take that away from yourself.
You do not know what tomorrow holds for you.
Giving up is not an answer!
My prayers for you right now is that God will give you the hope that you need,
the way out,
the people to help you out,
the strength to empowered yourself to fight back,
His love to remind yourself that you are worthy and too precious.
I may not have all the answers for you,
Am I problems free? nope and so are the rest of the human population.
We all have problems,
some are even harder than we thought because they do not show it in their everyday lives.
Just because people are smiling or put cool statuses and pictures on Facebook or Twitter (lol), does not mean their lives are problems free.
Just because they seemed happy does not mean that they do not have problems in life.
People only shows what they want the world to see them, not what really is going on in their lives.
But, if we involved in helping others in need, we started to see that we are not alone buried with problems, other people have it harderthan us.
Sometimes what we need is other people to help us with our problem, to defined our problem, to open our eyes up to see that we can do it, it is not that bad and even if it is that bad, we will be fine because they has proved it by their own living testimony.
Community,
especially those with the same problems really helps us understand that we are not alone. Sometimes we must stop looking "up" and starting to look around us or below us to understand that we are not the only one living this nightmare, others has their own and there are many who has worst situation than ours.
Find your community!
First, you must defined your problems then you seek help.
What do you want in life, set a goal, then go from there.
Little by little, but moving forward!
"The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."
Psalm 34:18
"Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield."
My husband is watching Chicago Bulls games on TV, it is his holy moment. So, here I am writing my blog while listening to some Miami Heat's fans cheering their team up on TV. I am a proud CHICAGO sport team's fans but tonight I just want to write about something. Let's go BULLS!
I was reading my RUNNER'S magazine last night and I was just in awe of some of these runners below.
Click the link about him and you will be amazed, as I was, of this man's determination to conquer miles after miles (literally). He ran 50 marathons in all 50 states in 50 consecutive days, finishing with the New York City Marathon, which he completed in three hours and thirty seconds. That is just one of his accomplishment, he had plenty and counting.
Why do I admire people like him? here is why : INSPIRED and MOTIVATED me to do something more in life. There were times when I feel like just being lazy in front of the TV and eat tons of junk snacks instead of go out and run. Of course, my body deserves a rest after a long hours of working. But, my body also deserves a good exercise in order to maintain its health, strength and energy level. Most of all, it makes ME, the proud owner of this body, happier and healthier. Nothing sexier than being healthy and happy with our own skin (or body).
Gladys Burril, her recent record recognition as the 'Oldest Female to Complete a Marathon' aged 92 years, 19 days. She completed the 26.2 mile Honolulu Marathon race in 9 hours 53 minutes and 16 seconds, on December 12th, 2010.
OK, people, listen up : she is the bomb! If a 92 years old woman could ran a marathon in sunny Hawaii, then I can run in my 30's (or name your own age lol). It is all in our brain. When we limit ourselves by saying "WE CAN'T" then we won't make it. We have to push our bodies to the limit when it comes to working out. I used to hate running, I have a weak left foot and my lungs get "tired" easily. I can list tons of other excuses. But, one day, I tried to run and now I am craving for it. God created our body to do things beyond what we thought we could. Try it, and then listen to your body. When it says, "lets do more..I can do it", then go for it. When it says "slow down or this is it", then slow down or stop. Trying is the word. From trying to pushing a little bit. From pushing to test yourself to the limit. We will never know our limit until we test it, right? :)
Captain Ivan Castro, 43, has always pushed limits. A career Army man, he joined the Special Forces in 1999 to see if he had what it took to be a sniper, and spent the next seven years jumping into the black of night and wielding an M-24 rifle—assignments that gave him the feel-alive fix he craved.
Castro was on a rooftop in Youssifiyah, Iraq, in September 2006 when mortars landed five feet from him. Shells shredded the right side of his face and tore off parts of his arm, buttocks, and shoulder. Both lungs collapsed; he suffered a pulmonary embolism and an aneurism. The blast also nuked his right eye and lodged shrapnel in his left, leaving Castro permanently blind.
"I felt desperation, anger, depression," Castro says. But a visit from a blind Marine two months after the attack made Castro realize that although his ability to see was gone, he—the soldier, the leader, the guy who loved a challenge—was not. Castro, who had been a runner since high school, set a goal to finish his first marathon.
Thirteen months and 36 surgeries after the attack, Castro ran the 2007 Marine Corps Marathon in 4:14—and found his new mission: show other disabled warriors "what blind can do." Since then, he has met with members of Congress to advocate for wounded veterans' participation in the Paralympics, spoken at military and civilian events to encourage employers to hire the blind, and counseled disabled soldiers. When he visits injured veterans, his message is simple: As long as you're breathing, life is worth living.
Castro has completed 12 marathons, many of them guided by Lt. Col. Fred Dummar, whom he met on the Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Army base. Castro is one of three blind active-duty officers in the Army, where he works in the Special Operations Recruiting Battalion. Castro thinks of himself as an example of what the Army can provide— brotherhood and a meaningful life mission—not of what it could cost you.
Still pushing his own limits, Castro plans to finish a 100-miler, bike across the United States, and hike the Appalachian Trail. "Listen, I'm driven," he says. "There's nothing I can't do."
Capt. Ivan Castro has my most respect of the day. He is blind and he has completed so many marathons. He is my hero. He showed me that life has more than just limitation. Nothing will stop this man to accomplish and fulfilled his life purposes. May God bless you!
"Sure, I have asked, 'Why both eyes? Why not just one? Why couldn't I see some light, or shadows?' Then I remind myself to trust in God and be grateful to Him. We all can complain that we have the worst time. But, somewhere, someone else has it worse." (Capt. Ivan Castro)
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."(1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV)
Get off that couch and start walking then jog then run! Finish what you started and finish strong! I hope that these people can inspired you to do something good for your body and impact other people to do the same in a very positive way. Good luck and have fun working out.
