2017 "Summer Body" Challenge

It's not what you think! I'm not going to proceed to tell you about ways that you can start 'toning' this and 'lifting' that so you can spend the next 2-3 months strutting the beaches like God's greatest creation. (Sorry if that's what you hoped for; you can exhale now if you'd feared that).

No. Instead, I hope to express-- from the most genuine, humble space in my heart-- pure, unfiltered, and unconditional love for you (whoever) is reading this. I hope you feel it, because already, in the dawn of hot weather, pressure has been ever increasing to fit into a certain summer dress or swimsuit in order to show everyone that winter wasn't your "hibernation" as much as hardcore indoor training... (Cough cough).

There's pressure to thrive and excel more in everything that you're doing. If the year was a hill, this would be the steep incline right before the peak-- where you've been working hard all year and the next few steps will make or break your descent into the next year. Summer is calling us forth to show the progress we've made thus far and recharge for the final grind of 2017 ahead.

I don't know about you, but this period of time can be the most anxiety producing for me because there's the expectation to see and be seen, but it's largely for an external audience. This year, I've decided to re-frame my thinking about summer and the sought after "beach body" to use the appeal of summer to dive deeper into who I am.

In the past, it has been difficult for me to just be and accept myself and my circumstances as they are in the present. After so many years of living this way only to become tense and worried all the time, I'm challenging myself to have a "beach body" mentality each day. What do I mean by this? When I go to the beach-- and I assume I'm not alone in the following sentiment-- I intend to both relax and have fun. It's a getaway from the usual course of life. At the beach the energy is high and my appreciation of nature is heightened while looking at the unobstructed sky and sea. I've begun to take this same approach and appreciation of life to my everyday existence. I aim to wake up and think, "Ah! Today I'm going to just relax and have fun, no matter what waves come my way!" When I get tired, I lounge in the sun (literally or figuratively by watching Netflix) and I always take time to appreciate nature. How's that for a beach body?!

I encourage you today to truly embrace the energy of summer notated where you are. It's not about being seen or what you look like, it's about taking time to enjoy and relax is what is.

But just a final thought on the urge to strut the beach like God's gift to earth..

"If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves. Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else, for each one should carry their own load." (Galatians 6:3-5, NIV)

And, WHEN YOU GET TIRED (because you will), you can head to the beach, as you are, and "...rest in the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 91:1)

Enjoy ladies! Surfs up!