Let’s talk about home maintenance. If you drive around your town enough, you’ll see it. A cute house that someone didn’t take pride in and let it go. Maybe there were circumstances beyond their control that led to the disrepair, and that’s so very sad, and yet understandable. But for many, it’s quite simply a lack of pride of ownership and laziness. These are the situations I’m addressing today. Overgrown yards, peeling paint, broken fences and piled up trash, you get the idea. The homeowners didn’t do their due diligence in daily maintenance and now all of those small fixes and 30 minute clean up jobs have escalated into an overwhelming amount of work and a fortune in repairs. You get a roof leak, which when ignored leads to water damage. So what once was an hour job of replacing shingles, which costs very little, has now become a huge job of mold mitigation, drywall and floor replacement, and repainting, and when added up, proves to be extremely costly and time consuming. Proper daily maintenance is the key to a home that will provide you shelter for a lifetime. You spent the money to buy it, do your part to make that house a home and show it some love! That way, when you come home and open up that door, you feel happiness and peace, they way a home is supposed to make you feel! 
Okay, so here’s the point of this whole thing. And no, I’m not really starting a blog on home maintenance. Just like a home that is ignored and falls into disrepair, our bodies will do the same. I believe that we all have a DAILY responsibility to do the work to maintain our health and fitness through proper nutrition and exercise. That means making good choices at mealtime and providing your body with adequate and well-rounded nutritional choices. That means daily movement and full body muscle stimulation, however you choose to do that. These things are not wants for our bodies, they are needs. Without them, things stop working properly and it leads to a cascade effect of malfunctions, just like a home that is ignored. So, do the work and take care of yourself. That does not mean we are all perfect everyday, by the way. It just means that you continue to take steps forward with the goal of maintaining that beautiful gift of life, YOUR home, that you’ve been given. If you stumble, you get back up again, period.

Now I want to speak about another side to being happy in your home. There are a lot of styles of homes, cape cod, saltbox, tudor, craftsman, tents, yurts, igloos, high rises, and cabins. The list goes on and on. If every house was the same all over the world, things would be very, VERY boring. Imagine driving down the street or traveling the world and no matter where you went, every house was the same style. So let’s say you are gifted a home. Let’s say it’s a cape cod style home. Someone hands you the keys and the garage door opener and says, this is now your house, free and clear! Wow, what an amazing gift, right? You look at it and have this incredible feeling of ownership and pride and imagine all the possibilities. But then you start looking at other people’s homes and you think, “I really wish my free home was a mid century modern”. And then every time you come home, all you can focus on is the fact that your house isn’t all sleek lines and angles. Suddenly that free gift feels like a cumbersome load. That peace you should feel when you walk in the door is gone. And all because you decided that you drew the short straw. Someone else got the mid century modern that you wanted and you were given this crappy little cape cod. Life just isn’t fair, right? I’m sure you know where I’m going with this, I’m not that sneaky.

We have all been given the keys to our own home, free and clear, and that’s this body that we live in. But what happens when we decide that someone else’s body is the one we’d rather have and suddenly, what we have isn’t enough? If you wake up every morning, look at yourself in the mirror and get frustrated and angry and sad that what you see isn’t what you desire then where does that leave you? If you spend every day struggling to become something you aren’t how does that shape your life? Living with those feelings takes away that sense of peace within yourself and removes the happiness from every part of your life. It creeps into everything, time spent with your family and friends, vacations, or just sitting quietly at home. The thought that you aren’t good enough takes over completely and overshadows that beautiful gift you’ve been given. The fact of the matter is, there is no perfect body. We’ve been programmed to believe perfection is a certain look, but that’s not reality. We are all designed to be different and unique and thank goodness for that because it’s variety that makes life interesting. So you need to find your peace and happiness again. If looking at social media posts only leads to you feeling bad about yourself then stop following them. Do the work to maintain YOUR home and stop comparing it others. Focus on the daily maintenance, movement and sound nutrition, and then learn to rest in the knowledge that you are doing your part to keep your home in good working order. And then spend the rest of your time embracing the things that make you different because those things that separate us from someone else aren’t flaws. Being different from everyone else is a gift in itself! You have a completely unique experience and voice to add to this world and the truth is, being happy and healthy and leading a meaningful life doesn’t only live in one body type just as there is no single perfect style of house for everyone. True happiness starts at home, so treat it with respect and love. You have a responsibility to let your light shine, because you’ve been given the gift of YOU. ❤️