To Give or not to Give…Up
To Give, or Not To Give… Up
Sometimes I feel like giving up, on so many things. On my friends that never call me first, I always have to call them first and hope they’ll call me back or write me.
I feel like giving up on always trying to lose weight. Am I not good enough the way I am? When will it be good enough? Don’t I need to love myself. I mean it’s one thing to eat healthy and exercise on a consistent basis. But am I not allowed to have a chocolate bar once or twice a week? COME ON!
But then, I remember and think about so many people in the world who don’t have enough to eat. Who don’t even have any family or friends to lean on when they’ve lost everything. People who have been sold into slavery. 1.2 Million children are trafficked every year throughout the world. (Source: Various, Noted by UNICEF)
I then think. I CAN’T GIVE UP! I may have my problems, we all do, but the truth is that living in this country, and with a loving family as I have, my lowest points of life may never even be compared to some people’s daily lives. When faced with the way that most people live, these things I often worry about don’t seem as important.
I look at my sleeping 2 year old son and my amazing husband who loves me very much. I think of my mother, father and sister 70 miles away who just drove to visit us today.
I realize even if my friends don’t call me back. Even if I gain 10 lbs, stay the same, or lose weight. Even if I lose my health and all my looks. I do have people who love me and would do anything for me. So many people on this earth have never had that, and may never have that.
So. I WILL GIVE UP my selfishness and my pride that thinks I know why my loved ones aren’t calling me- perhaps they’re going through a harder time than me and I need to keep reaching out.
I WILL GIVE UP feeling bad about myself if I don’t lose a pound this week, or even if I gain one. Because I am exercising and eating healthy, and that’s supposed to be the point, right? And more importantly, I’m trying to be a good person!
I WONT GIVE UP trying to give a voice to those who don’t have one.
I WONT GIVE UP loving even when I don’t feel loved, because our feelings often betray the truth.
AND I WON’T GIVE UP on me. I will remember “every day is new with no mistakes in it yet” as said by one of my favorite fictional characters ever- Anne of Green Gables. (Books by L.M. Montgomery)
And I WONT GIVE UP on my dream to adopt one or more children because Anne was an orphan, my mother was an orphan, and there are so many orphans in the world that I just know there’s one or more made for my home, and there’s definitely a lot we can all help even if it’s just through a letter, a donation, or our homes and hearts!
I WON’T GIVE UP trying to right any wrong that I can be a part of righting!
I WILL GIVE UP all things that keep me from being a light in this world.
