#decemberfirst

December 1. World AIDS Day. Remembering friends and family lost to the virus. It will be cured. It will be relegated to a footnote. Just not yet.

December 1st.....DON’T GIVE UP ON YOURSELF!!! (Warning: about to rant) 

Today..during my first long run (post marathon), I was reflecting on the fact that it is DECEMBER 1ST. I feel like 2019 was the longest year of my life but also went by..*snap fingers*.just like that ha. 

So today, I was thinking of the fact that so many people are already calling it quits. So many people are already planning to over-indulge on food, blow off their goals, stop focusing on who they say they want to be, letting commitments to themselves slip, and letting their desire to grow in their knowledge, faith, friendships slip away. Only because this is the time of year where we just sort of “let it all go..” We really just start to settle into rest-mode. Where we re-connect with family and friends, recharge ourselves, wear sweatpants, cook delicious meals, and spend time surrounded by others. 

BUT.. don’t lie to yourself. Don’t tell yourself it is OK to go waaaay off course. Because come January 1st we start to tell ourselves “this is going to be the BEST year”, “this is going to be the decade” “this is the year I am going to be my best version”, “this is the year I get healthy’”, “this is the year I get mentally strong” , “this is the year I go to therapy”, “this is the year I grow in my faith”, “this is the year I go back to school”....etc....etc.....

DUDE. Stop lying to yourself. If you can’t do it today. If you can’t choose the person that is inside your heart screaming and begging you to let them come out. If you can’t choose to be that person today, what hope do you have on January 1st? My friends. Please. Enjoy this month. Enjoy the holidays. But don’t do it as some excuse to continue to live HALF your life. C’mon. A lot of you are going to indulge, have all the fun and throw yourself completely into the holidays and if you chose to be honest with yourself... you would admit it!! You are not celebrating. You are numbing. You are choosing to ignore the fact that you are back here, in December, not where you wanted to be a year ago. And it’s OK. All of us fall off course. We all make mistakes. You are not alone in this. 

But if you want to make a change, you have to decide to make a change today. And if you mess up next week, you can choose to change AGAIN. And again. Because the beauty of this life is that every single day you open your eyes, you have another chance to try to be the person you want to be. So please enjoy your holidays. But love yourself to enjoy them for who you are. If you committed to being healthy...get back up. If you committed to goals such as running that half marathon...put your sneakers on. Don’t give up on yourself!!!!! 

Stand back up and go again. You can choose right now. You can start something in December so that when the new year hits, you are miles ahead of where everyone else is on New Years day. If you are still reading this then there is something tugging on your heart. You are capable of more. You are worthy of a better life. Please please PLEASE don’t blow off the entire year in this one month. I am here with you! I am running the miles, drinking the water, reading all the books and working my self. I am trying my very best to start on the top of the mountain January 1st, rather than crashing into it. 

Happy December 1st my FANTABULOUS TUMBLR friends ✨🎅🏽🎄🎅🏽✨

December 1st always arrives with a certain kind of magic. It’s the first day of the last month – the final chapter of a story we’ve been writing all year long.  And maybe this year wasn’t perfect.  Maybe it held moments that broke your heart and moments that helped you heal. Maybe there were lessons you didn’t ask for, blessings you didn’t expect, and changes you never saw coming. But here’s…