I am satisfied

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Everything you see as beautiful is truly just your opinion, your vision of the world around you. For instance, when I wake up at 4 am, the pitch black sky is ugly. Plain and simple, it is bleak, cold, uninviting, unending darkness that sucks. It was especially dreary this morning, after my four hours of sleep. But as my legs started to run, and my eyes opened, and my lungs filled with the crisp night air, and my skin tickled from the chilled breeze.... the night sky became beautiful. All at once, I saw the openness of that vast sea of stars. I saw an unending possibility to the day. That same sky that pierced my sleepy soul, became a beautiful vision of possibility.

Everything is beautiful after a run. A simple change in my perspective presents a new view of the world around me. The struggles haven't changed, the work is still unending, the run was still uphill, and the crisis of each day continues; but, I can see the beauty in the moment, the life before me as I live it. And that is a gift in itself...

My body is not that of a model in a magazine. My strength is not seen under the remaining fat. My size is bigger than that of the runners around me, of the soccer players behind me, and the hungry woman that judges me. My beauty is greater, and I see it.  My strength is greater, and I feel it... and I am very satisfied.

In happiness,
Beth