Tip #46: Try to be a healthier YOU...Not somebody else.

Where many people reach a block in their quest for health, is in their expectations.  They workout, try to eat healthier, and still can't manage to look like the model that they see on the TV that evening, so they quit.  They ask themselves, "why bother?".  "I do all of this work, and I still can't even come close to looking like her (or him, for you guys)!"  They don't take in to consideration that the model they are longing to look like has probably has had ridiculously expensive surgeries, and a life that is catered to by health experts and image consultants.  Oh, and don't forget about a little thing called airbrushing!  Whether it is someone famous or your best friend that you find yourself comparing yourself to, you need to remember that the person you are longing to look like...is. not. you.  You are a unique person purposefully and perfectly crafted by the Creator of this world, God.  If He had wanted you to look like someone else, He would have made you that way.  You were created special, with your own special features, genes, strengths, and purpose.  To try to be somebody else is to not fulfill your own unique purpose.

 For you formed my inward parts;

   you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works;

   my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret,

   intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them,

   the days that were formed for me,

   when as yet there was none of them.  

Proverbs 139:13-16

I find this struggle to be especially prevalent with us ladies, and it starts young.  The culture we live in has put undo pressure on women to be sex symbols and to live up to a certain image.  Girls and women find themselves discouraged and doing whatever it takes to try to live up to that image.  Distorting their bodies, wasting tons of money, starving themselves (and other eating disorders), dressing in a way that disrespects themselves...all to live up to something they never can, and weren't meant to.

Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,

but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 

Proverbs 31:30

 Instead of focusing on everyone around you, try to be a healthier YOU.  Make healthy food choices and stay active, so that you can carry out God's plan for YOU.  After all, you are pretty darn special.  Oh, and if you are going to strive to be like someone else, make it Jesus Christ...not Kim Kardashian (no offense to Kim!).  :)