Lately

I have a thing for "quality of life."

Years ago (maybe 10 of them?) I read, "the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I come that they may have life to the full" (my paraphrase) and I think my spirit leapt up and said Yes! That is what I want.

I've been fixated ever since.

I've made quite a few stops along the way, but it's where my real journey of physical health began (which turned into physical, mental, and spiritual because now I think they're all related).

(I emphasize "real" because prior my discovery, I was fixated on being skinny enough, pretty enough, all of that as a goal- no matter if it meant drinking Diet Coke and consuming packets of Equal and cutting calories with no care about what it was actually doing inside my body. Now,whenever I start thinking/or talking about "feeling fat," I know I need to re-calibrate. Although I do enjoy putting outfits together and a good hair day, I see my body more as a way to experience life than a mantle to be left perfectly decorated and untouched.)

I make many of the food choices I do in pursuit of quality of life (for myself and now for others). I workout (when I do) so I have the strength and stamina to at least try anything that comes my way.

I want a quality, full, slurp-up-the-last-drops life.

Quality of life for me lately has looked something like:

Less time on the internet.

More vegetables and less added sugar.

More shared meals and glasses of wine (spaced out because I cannot handle more than one at once)

Reading actual books

Giving myself time to just think and pray without any distractions (this might be just a few minutes at a time!)

30-minute workouts (not every day)

(You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body. -C.S. Lewis)