Thank you for your inspiration

First off, I'd like to thank Betty, Barry, Erika, Diane, Melanie, Heather Rose and MACA for your comments on my last post about getting back into the swing of things.  Melanie ... you can do it girl.  I had a problem with life getting in the way.  Then I started getting up stupid I know it's hard to get back into it.  But you can do it.   Erika ... stick with it girl ... it just takes a little (ok a lot) of effort and determination, but you can get back to feeling great. 

Today was a really good day.  I stayed on track with my nutrition, had a good workout, maintained a positive attitude (which I usually do anyway),  reviewed my goals, and just generally had a good day.  My only downfall was coffee.  I really want to cut the coffee (other than my morning espresso) out.  I just don't seem to be making a very good effort at it.  Plus I need the extra caffeine, although sometimes it's just habit.  Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

I'd also like to thank Jennifer Fabulous for a comment she made on my 200th post, asking what you consider beautiful.  Her answer was kindness in people towards each other.  I've been thinking about that a lot the past couple of days and wanted to thank her for inspiring a topic of conversation.

We get so busy in life, time pressures of  work, family, friends, groceries, cleaning, errands, etc. etc. etc.  It is so easy to forget the little "niceties" which really should be part of our days.  I say "thank you" when someone holds the door open ... man or woman ... and I usually look to check to see if someone is coming up behind me so I can hold the door open, even if it means it delays me a second or two.   And people are so surprised.  How sad is that?  How did we ever get to be such a rude society?  So unforgiving, forgetful, so full of ourselves.  Don't get me wrong ... I'm a LONG way from perfect.  But my parents raised me right and proper upbringing makes it really hard to be rude ... but there are days ....

Keeping in touch with friends and family ... by phone, not email.  One of the best/worst things that has come along is email.  Yeah, it's convenient but it's also so impersonal.  It's definitely better than nothing.  We have various friends and family that we keep talking about calling ... saying we have to go see them this summer ... hell, it's been 2 1/2 years since I saw my SISTER ... and she only lives about 3 hours or so away.  But summer it's traffic and winter it's weather and the excuses we can come up with to avoid doing something ... YEESH!

But isn't it great when you see someone help a stranger?  Hold a door, pick up something that someone dropped (I know a woman who ran halfway through the parking lot to return a glove I think it was to someone who dropped it and had an MP3 player on so didn't hear her calling him), let a car go ahead of them, all kinds of things we can do to show others kindness and respect.

I have really enjoyed meeting all of you.  Your posts and your comments have made me laugh, cry, be inspired, make me think a little deeper, exposed me to things I wouldn't have thought much about.  You are an amazing group of people and I just wanted to make sure you knew that you inspire me to be a better person, to still to my goals, to keep my promises (especially those self-promises I struggle with so much).

Thank you.