That Yearly Reminder

Well, I got back home the other night from a weekend camping trip that is a yearly tradition among my extended family on my mom's side. We've been doing it ever since I could remember, and I know they did it before I was even born. It's the chance for the family to spend time together; catching up, baking in the sun on the beach, teasing each other, telling stories, *ahem* drinking a lot, and just having a good ol' time. But, for me it is usually something more than just a fun time. I get some good life inspiration out of it.

I talk to my aunts a lot during that weekend. It gives me an opportunity to get more perspective on womanhood from someone besides my mom. I love my mom to death, of course, but she doesn't exactly take very good care of herself. So what I grew up seeing, I sometimes see myself doing too, and that worries me. My mom is not what I would call old (early 50s), but she's got a shoulder problem, knee problem, toe problems, smokers cough, and she's overweight. She doesn't have an active lifestyle at all. Actually, neither of my parents do. They come home from work, eat, then sit in front of the TV until it's bed time. Man, there is no way I want to be like that.

I have two aunts on my mom's side of the family who are 50 and another one who is in her late 30s. I love talking to them because they do take care of themsevles! They're all living life to the fullest, too; going camping, on vacations, being active! They exercise and cook healthy meals for their families and are youthful. It's so inspiring to me. So, to say the least, I come back from those weekends feeling obviously rejuvenated from getting away from the normal routine of life, but I also get a renewed outlook on life and how I take care of myself. I grew up with a pretty lazy approach to self-care. Even with the simple stuff like brushing my teeth and washing my face, I was never really forced to do it, thus not creating a habit that would stick with me when I got older. And I know, here I go blaming my parents again for something that I have control of. It's not that I'm blaming them, it's just that I see, more and more, the connections between parents' actions and their childrens' decisions later in life. My parents are lazy, thus I am lazy. My parents don't force me to brush my teeth before bed, thus I don't do it when I'm grown. If anything, it's just motivation to have more healthy habits in my life (and start them sooner than later), so that my children will develop healthy habits too.

Now that I establish that the reason why I find myself naturally developing negative habits is because of how I was brought up, it's time to then step into the role of adult and put forth the extra effort to correct the habits and turn them into good ones so that I don't cause this extra effort to be made by my children someday.

With that said, I now depart for the gym...