Take a Moment...

Hey world, 

How are you? How is your life, out there on the other end of the web of cyberland? I've realized I've never really asked. Probably because to this moment, I still haven't shared with anyone the name of this blog. There will be a time and a place for that. When the time is right, I'll know it. 

Today I want to take a moment to reflect on...well, taking a moment. 

--- 

At the end of my kickboxing class, we take about ten minutes to relax, meditate and stretch before we stand up, bow to one another, and then give each other high fives before we unwrap and rehydrate. But as we sit with our legs crossed and our eyes closed, our trainer J says the following:

"Take a moment to acknowledge your efforts today.

Take a moment to be thankful for your health, and your well-being.

Take a moment to be thankful for yourself."

They're simple sentences really. But among our collective silences, our collective sighs, rapid pulses, relaxing muscles and sweaty bodies, these words mean a lot to us. We have pushed ourselves to our limits for the past 60 minutes -- we have kicked and punched and push-upped and crunched and squatted and kept going even when our muscles were sore -- so the moment when we come together to take a moment comes to represent our successes. Our happinesses.

And it reminds us that while we fight, and we struggle, and we endure each and every day in a variety of ways, we also have so much to be thankful for. 

For lungs that breathe in the sweet air, and keep our bodies energized.

For legs and arms that give us the greatest gift of all: movement.
For companionship, for community. For independence, for selfhood.

For being in a position to take an hour for ourselves to reconnect with our bodies.

For being alive another day. 

---

I'm at this point in my mid-20s, as are so many of my friends, where we are so 'busy' being "busy" that we forget to take moments. 

To remind ourselves who we are, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. 

To be thankful for all that we had, all that we have, and all that will come.
To appreciate ourselves: the good, the bad, and the malleable. 

To look around and see all of the good. 

So I'm writing this to remind my future self to not forget to take a moment, every day, to just reflect and be thankful. Not to think ahead, or mull on the past; but to stay in the present and be appreciative...even if you have nothing more than a moment to spare. 

xoxo,

M