GET HAPPY, OR GET MOVIN'!

If you want to be cool, you have to feel cool. And to feel cool, you've got to act cool. When I put on my Carhartts, I am cool. I feel like I am walking around in a blanket. A really cool blanket.
Girls don't usually wear Carhartts. For the most part, they wear fitted, pretty jeans. Which is fine. I have the cling-me kind of jeans. I like them. They have their place. They are for get togethers where I want to look skinny and fit in. They are my "check out my butt" jeans...(in a married-classy sort of way). But, Carhartts are my "I am tough and I don't care if I look skinny because, I am woman hear me roar" pants.
I have 3 little girls that gave me this fat roll. I don't blame them. It's not entirely their fault. It's just a side effect of pregnancy, eating cheese, and not exercising every day. I could do something about it. And, I do...half of the time. But then, I make lasagna and eat two helpings and have 3 glasses of wine. This makes me happy. When I get sick of it, I eat fruit and go jogging and don't have seconds on dinner. Balance is a girl's best friend.
We are who we are. I am not Walmart. This meaning, I am a beautiful person. The Walmart people that I am speaking of, are scary. They yell at each other in the aisles about hot dogs and smack on their small offspring and go total white trash on everybody around them. You smile. They scowl. I am not Walmart. I am REI mixed with a little bit of Old Navy, Ross, some Goodwill, with a smidgen of dumpster diving on top. This makes me happy.

We, as women, spend too much time looking at People magazine. I am guilty of this. These women are beautiful in a royalty way. They have personal trainers, they cut out pasta and bread from their meals, and wear make up in their sleep. They are constantly bombarded by paparazzi taking pictures of them, all day, every day. They MUST look good, or we wouldn't want to watch them. I always vow to do more crunchies and eat perfectly healthy after watching "Fools Gold" with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson. When you see a woman with a fat roll hanging over her swimsuit, you want to photo shop it. You want to make her perfect in your mind. I am guilty of this, even though I muffin top over my bikini.
There are no beer bellies in Hollywood, with the exception of Jack Black sort of men and "funny" women. If you are comic, then it's okay to be chubby. If you are one of the beautiful People than it's not allowed. You will be kicked out of the club. We, the viewers are responsible for this, as we sit at home polishing off the bag of Doritos and drinking another Heineken and judging body types.
I will slap the person that photo shops my muffin top. It's mine. I earned it. And I am not Walmart. So I will feel good about my little bit of extra me and proclaim my realness to the world. If everybody did this, and we accepted ourselves and others as beautiful, then we would all be okay. If every woman let her facial hair grow, we would realize that it was normal. But ever since the invention of the razor, Nair, tweezers, and foundation, we have been trained to think it's gross. When I see a stray chin hair, I'm on it! I'm not letting a rogue hair ruin my reputation. The muffin top is more difficult to remove. Not a hair. They come out with a tug, wince, and a tear drop.
Let's start THINKING and KNOWING that we are cool and beautiful! I am practicing this and it is working. It IS! It's all about a feeling. If I think over and over and over again, that I'm not quite where I want to be, then I never will be. To become something, just BECOME it! Know that it has already happened, and you will bring to your life the things you need for necessary change.
Really think about your thought pattern. I started listening to what I was telling myself and was appalled! We should be our own ally, not an attacking enemy. I do believe we are all a bit self conscious and People magazine really doesn't help. (Yes, I read it in the check out line at walmart while trying to ignore the lady in pink camo spandex that is eating her food before she buys it and yelling at her "old man!")
We always think we could be just a bit skinnier, have better hair, and buy one more product to make all the difference. THEN we'd be happy, right? Proof of this lies in photos. At 16 I thought I was fat. I was not fat. I was running track and cross country, streaking up and down the basketball court, and was riding my bike all over hell and gone. I look back at pictures and go, "What was I thinking, thinking that way??"
So the truth is that when I am 60, I am going to look at pictures of myself at 30 and think, "WOW! Look how young and un-wrinkly I was!" At 90, I'll probably say, "OH, look! I had teeth! I don't care if they were a bit crooked! They are REAL teeth!" It is all about how we look at things and we don't give ourselves enough credit.
What do I want out of life? That is the question to be asked every day. If I want something and I am not doing the actions required for change, then the time to act is at that very second, or I really won't be happy. It doesn't really matter what it is. If it's dealing with the 2 yr old that is setting a record for breaking the sound barrier in one single shrill scream, and I want it to stop, than I've got to move. I have to make it a little more uncomfortable for that chubby little princess to boss us all around. If I want to get healthier, it's time to blend up some almond milk and make a little smoothie for everybody. If it's having great feet, then I need to get out of the flip flops and wash those babies. (But, I really love dirty feet. They say to me, "I have had some FUN today!")
So, Carhartts are my feeling-cool-thing for right now. I am beautiful in my blanket pants. I don't care if 90% of the critics don't think so. It doesn't matter. What I think IS my reality. When I am glowing on the inside and feeling unstoppable than it oozes to the outside and is impossible to ignore. Besides, when I am camping, I can put on my Carhartt bibs and sit right down in the dirt without a worry. Because dirt actually goes with those kind of pants! It's true. Try it.
If it's long fingernails for some women, than grow em long and paint em red and sing "Cat Scratch Fever" all the way to the mall! Love it!! It's not about one thing being better than the other. It's not about right or wrong. It's about what makes you glow and all perky and stuff. Because your Spirit will always tell you what is right for you. For each of us it's different. This is not a free pass to go get a large fry and some Ben & Jerry's and get your chubby going. Because what we truly want and desire IS to be healthy. And junk food has it's place, but so does water and an apple, for goodness sake!
I've always liked bouquets with all different kinds of flowers in them. If it's all daisies...blah. It's the rainbow that makes me smile. Give me some Carhartt, skinny jeaned, hippie skirted, swim suit sportin', business pant suit, forest service green, flip flop wearing women...and we got ourselves one beautiful picture!