Above Average

When I was a young girl, I never let myself settle for anything less than what I considered to be perfection.

Often, as you can imagine, this led to a fairly intense level of personal frustration.

When I was about eight years old, I was all set to perform in our school's talent show,

a chance to demonstrate my dedication to perfection...

Yeah, not so much.

I still know what dress I was wearing. It was the 90's, mind you, 

so the outfit was a slightly flouncy red dress with white polka-dots, white shoes, white tights...

Shiny black clarinet in hand, I walked out onto the stage.

With the piano accompanist giving me the nod, 

I set out to impress all in attendance with a mind-blowing performance of "The Entertainer".

Until...

I squeaked... Really, more like squawked...

After all of my practice and the hours of making sure this would be monumentally wonderful (as every eight year old dreams she really is when playing music, right?),

I had forgotten to keep my reed wet.

If you don't know much about woodwinds,

a dry reed is basically a death sentence to any sound resembling music.

So, that was it. My life was over. 

Crying, mortified, I walked off the stage, dry-reeded instrument in hand.

Now, thank God, I had a mother who did not have unrealistic expectations nor punishingly high standards.

What she did love was seeing me do what made me happy,

so after helping me calm down and wet my reed,

she also lovingly insisted that I go back, because she knew how thrilled I would be to be able to play that piece and finish well.

Having just the right expectations seems to make all the difference in life.

After twenty-two some odd years of demanding tedious excellence of myself,

I think that somehow I subconsciously decided to rebel, to find out what it was like to expect my activities and pursuits to be average. Trouble was, I still wanted above average results out of life.

I think that, maybe, most moms fall into one of those two categories.

We either expect waaaayyyy to much of ourselves and children,

("My Baby Can Read", anyone?),

or we rebel against the pressure and settle for,

"Well, at least I can read...", but then don't even bother to do that!

It's the dilemma of being faced with the need to lose 7 pounds...

There are those who say, "You recommend 2 shakes a day? Heck, I'll replace 3 meals a day with a shake and exercise for 2 hours!"

And then those who say, "Well, 7 pounds isn't so bad. Another cookie, anyone?"

I have met them, though, those mothers who do one or two above average activities a week, and enjoy the bit of a challenge they offer.

I'm inspired.

But perhaps the one who inspires me most is my Little Man.

Think about it. If he always settled for just what felt easy, he would never have learned to walk!

Last weekend, we went to the park and watched his face light up while swinging. 

Flying through the air could be terrifying, especially when your parent is in control and you don't really know what's coming next... But if he freaked out at every new thing, he would miss most of the fun of being a toddler. If he didn't work at learning, growing, and exploring, he would never have found out that he can eat with a fork, or run, or climb down steps...

So I'm adopting a new mindset.

I want to live with the idea that I can be as interested in life as my toddler is, and that if I am persistently curious and challenged, I will find the results I wanted all along, 

but with much more happiness along the way.

Join the movement of moms.

Follow me on Instagram @happyfitnessmama, share photos of your healthy active kids, and tag them #movementofmoms so that we can have another reason to smile!

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Disclaimer - Research shows that those people having a Formula 1 meal replacement shake twice daily as part of a healthy eating and exercise plan can reasonably expect to lose 1/2 to 1 lb a week. And the average annual compensation provided by Herbalife to its distributors at the Supervisor position with a downline is approximately $5,800. I have chosen to consistently follow my Herbalife nutrition plan and work hard at running my business, which is the reason for my personal results.