I've wrestled with whether I should share this or not.
On the one hand, for me it is Pinterest related, but lately I have read a lot of articles about a lot of mean people bullying others on the internet for posting things like this.
Occasionally Marquette and I have to delete a nasty gram from a reader, it comes with the territory of running a public blog and for the most part it doesn't bother me. I understand that it will happen and I just move on.
So for this post I ask that our existing rules of no negative or mean comments continue and that we keep things positive, and respectful. I guess since this is much more personal than just a regular craft post that I'm a little leery.
My worry is that others may see this as braggy. When we post Show-and-Tell Saturday posts they are to show what we are up to craft wise, what projects we're working on and to inspire others to create. The range of Pinterest is much wider than crafting though, it includes food (which we also include), home improvement, parenting, relationships, art, and health along with SO much more.
We have never really dove into the realm of health on the blog per say, I consider that a sort of different range of pins. I thought this might be helpful to others though after some feed back I have gotten from family and friends. I hope this is received the way it was intended, that is to help inspire others.
Here goes!
Last Sunday my husband Chip and I ran our first half-marathon! For those of you who aren't familiar with anything running (which I wasn't either about 3ish months ago) a half-marathon is 13.1 miles. We ran the Biggest Loser Half-Marathon in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Chip grew the 'stache just for the race, rockin' right?
Just after we finished! We both reached our personal goal times for the race :)
It was a awesome experience, and more than just the race itself it was an amazing physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual feat for us.
A little background for you, Chip's old email was ihaterunning@______.com . I did track in middle school, lost my baby chub and never did recreational running again. I hated it. We both hated it. Up until November the furthest I had EVER ran in my life was 3 miles at a time. That was a BIG accomplishment for me. A friend of mine was running the race and asked if I wanted to do it. I literally laughed at her.
Running was NOT my thing. In fact it kind of terrified me. I literally didn't think that I would be able to accomplish this goal. I was already shutting that door on myself.
BUT...Chip wanted to do it. He invited me to do it with him, we would train together and before I knew it, we were signed up, paid, and ready to go.
I had 9 weeks to train.
*Gulp.*
I started slow, four miles. Then five the next week, then six the week after. Eventually I was at 10 miles and didn't know who this person I was becoming! Where did she come from???
So what does this have to do with Pinterest?!
Pinterest can be an amazing motivational tool, or a devastating tool that can tear you down. This all depends on what you make of it. I see so many boards with half-naked chicks with sayings on them that say "Is that cookie really worth it??" and all I can think is, "Yes. Always yes, cookies are great.". For some people that kind of motivation works, but for me it just made me feel guilty and negative, not only about myself but about eating food, and that I didn't get to the gym that day. Why was I letting this inanimate object, Pinterest, be the medium to which I was filtering my self worth?! It's a website for heavens sake!
I chose to look at it differently. Not only was this accomplishment going to be physically difficult, but emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually as well. I needed to arm myself. Why was I doing this? Who was I doing this for? What would I like to get out of this experience?
I was doing this to grow. To stretch my limits, myself, and my accomplishments.
I was doing this for me.
I wanted to obtain growth and pride of myself and what I can do out of this experience. I wanted to choose this really hard thing, and dominate it. And I was going to use Pinterest as a tool of this task.
And last but not least, this one is my favorite. So often we ask, "What if I can't accomplish this task?!" I said this to myself more times than I can count. Whatever this task may be, I think at times WE are the naysayers of our goals. Next time you come upon an accomplishment that may seem out of your comfort zone, or out of your reach, ask yourself, "But what if I can?". This phrase turned it all around for me. I hope it does the same for you.
You CAN do anything.
I hope you all see that this isn't just about health pins, but about life in general. No matter what task we have at hand there is a way to accomplish it. Pinterest doesn't just have to be a tool to create Dream Boards, or Someday Boards, but it can be a tool to create Today Boards and Accomplishment Boards.
What if you can?
