Respect

Respect

By Phil Parham

“Self-respect is a question of recognizing that
anything worth having has a price.”
-Joan Didion

In college, my friends and I would frequently go to a karaoke lounge.  Without fail, we’d see a group of girls on stage belting out “Respect” by Aretha Franklin, and it was always fun to sing along in the crowd.

Thinking about that song made me wonder how much I respected myself over the years.  I want to say yes, of course I respected myself.  I married a wonderful woman, I have beautiful children, and I’m proud to have a successful career.  But I didn’t have respect for my body.  I didn’t take care of it.  I didn’t feed it well.  I didn’t give it enough water I eventually became obese, damaged my joints, and put myself at risk for diabetes and heart disease.  Sometimes it’s still difficult for me to admit that I had such little respect for my body.

Your thoughts and actions toward yourself and your body are important.  When you start to respect your body, the world starts changing for you.  Have you ever heard someone say, “Just take care of yourself and everything will fall into place”?  I never believed that because I always had to do a million things to make everything fall into place.  How could I find time to take care of myself?  But after doing just that and getting fit and healthy, a whole new world opened up to me, and everything really did start falling into place—the right place.  Loving and respecting yourself will start to bring a whole new perspective on life.  You will begin to attract people and opportunities you never thought were possible before.

Recently, Amy and I were eating dinner at a Lebanese restaurant after a busy day.  We looked at each other and smiled.  I told her how neat it was that we could take some time away for ourselves to enjoy each other’s company over a delicious, exotic meal.  A year ago, we never even knew this place existed.  We would have never thought to look for healthy international cuisine.  It’s a simple example, but one of the many changes in our lives.

I had to first make the commitment to change.  I had to respect and see the value in my body.  Only then did life truly change for the better.  Yours can too.  Respect yourself.

Mini-Challenge of the Day

Today, reflect on your body and how you take care of yourself.  How did you respect and value yourself a year ago?  How do you respect yourself today?  Has it changed?  You can’t make permanent lifestyle changes unless you respect yourself.

Tip of the Day

Choose whole fruits over fruit juices.  Fruit juice is full of concentrated sugars, and drinking too much juice can cause your blood sugar levels to spike.  If you’re going to have juice, mix it half-and-half with water.  This is how we give juice to our kids, too.  They quickly got used to the difference, and now, when they drink 100% juice, they think it’s too sweet.

Until tomorrow, be blessed!

Remember to DREAM!

Taken from “The 90-Day Fitness Challenge” by Phil and Amy Parham, former contestants on television’s “The Biggest Loser”.