Happy Summer Nostalgia
I absolutely love it when I wake up feeling well-rested and bright-brained right from the start! It makes me feel so receptive to the world. Things have a more positive effect on me and I also put out more positivity.
This morning, already feeling good, my sister posted a piece about one of the local pools in the city where we grew up. I didn't think much about it, that particular pool isn't the one we used to spend all our time at as kids, but when my sister mentioned how her kids now spend all summer at the pool we used to go to as kids, a really warm, happy nostalgia wrapped around me and made me smile.
As kids, my sister and I would be awake early all summer, biking the mile or so to the local pool, often arriving before they opened. The music would be playing over speakers, our favorite station setting the mood for a day of water fun. Everyone we loved to hang out with was there, it was like a pool party every day. We were fortunate enough that our parents trusted us to be there all day without them once we were in 5th and 3rd grade, so as long as we got ourselves home for dinner, we could be at the pool as much as we wanted. I still remember the smells, the chlorine, the suntan lotion, the pine trees that enveloped the pool...the sounds, the feel of getting water up your nose and of swirling through the water feeling weightless. We would go home for dinner because the pool closed for an hour anyway, then we were back at it for the night session, getting home for the night around 9:30. Those sure were different times when kids could safely be out there at that time of night! I loved the pool. I was a kid being a kid. I didn't have a care in the world, except if I got grounded for being bad and couldn't go to the pool for a few days, that felt like torture!
By some sort of miracle (or at least, that's how it feels now) I have a couple pictures of myself doing tricks at the pool. In the early 80's we were allowed to do tricks off the sides and dive and all that. In the pictures, I think I was about 8, that's the time when I started to get my stomach pooch. I didn't think anything of it as a kid, which is how it should be, in my opinion. I remember my mom referring to it as "baby fat" and thinking to myself, I'm not a baby anymore, I shouldn't have baby fat. But it didn't start bothering me until my mom started commenting on it more and more as I aged. Little did I know that in order to begin menses (which I did at 11) the body has to put on a layer of fat. It's normal and healthy. But by 11 or 12 I was trying my first diet, some low fat thing I found in Young Miss magazine. There is where my body issues began, and the vicious cycles that still leave their tracks in my brain began there. To say I have lots of work left to do on my mind is an understatment. But today is happy so I say that with a totally positive attitude as I roll up my mental sleeves.
So I have put a little thought into my Me Project and how it really has had some positive results for me so far. My mood has been better, I am learning to take what I need and want more, and it helps distract me, if only for a few moments, from the to-do lists. But I think I can have it be part of a more inclusive system. So I am integrating the Me Project into my new, bigger project, Past, Present, Future Project. PPF. Each day I am going to strive to do something that is therapeutic to my past (healing the past or at least reconciling it), one thing that is therapeutic for my present, and something that will help lead me into the kind of future I want to have. Each item will be different daily, and none need to take expansive amounts of time, but I think this will be something that will make me feel really good. The Me Project amplified! It makes me think that this summer will be fun. I can't wait to see if that holds true!
I will leave you with a really cute picture I saw on Facebook. It should leave everyone feeling good for a Wednesday!
This morning, already feeling good, my sister posted a piece about one of the local pools in the city where we grew up. I didn't think much about it, that particular pool isn't the one we used to spend all our time at as kids, but when my sister mentioned how her kids now spend all summer at the pool we used to go to as kids, a really warm, happy nostalgia wrapped around me and made me smile.
As kids, my sister and I would be awake early all summer, biking the mile or so to the local pool, often arriving before they opened. The music would be playing over speakers, our favorite station setting the mood for a day of water fun. Everyone we loved to hang out with was there, it was like a pool party every day. We were fortunate enough that our parents trusted us to be there all day without them once we were in 5th and 3rd grade, so as long as we got ourselves home for dinner, we could be at the pool as much as we wanted. I still remember the smells, the chlorine, the suntan lotion, the pine trees that enveloped the pool...the sounds, the feel of getting water up your nose and of swirling through the water feeling weightless. We would go home for dinner because the pool closed for an hour anyway, then we were back at it for the night session, getting home for the night around 9:30. Those sure were different times when kids could safely be out there at that time of night! I loved the pool. I was a kid being a kid. I didn't have a care in the world, except if I got grounded for being bad and couldn't go to the pool for a few days, that felt like torture!
By some sort of miracle (or at least, that's how it feels now) I have a couple pictures of myself doing tricks at the pool. In the early 80's we were allowed to do tricks off the sides and dive and all that. In the pictures, I think I was about 8, that's the time when I started to get my stomach pooch. I didn't think anything of it as a kid, which is how it should be, in my opinion. I remember my mom referring to it as "baby fat" and thinking to myself, I'm not a baby anymore, I shouldn't have baby fat. But it didn't start bothering me until my mom started commenting on it more and more as I aged. Little did I know that in order to begin menses (which I did at 11) the body has to put on a layer of fat. It's normal and healthy. But by 11 or 12 I was trying my first diet, some low fat thing I found in Young Miss magazine. There is where my body issues began, and the vicious cycles that still leave their tracks in my brain began there. To say I have lots of work left to do on my mind is an understatment. But today is happy so I say that with a totally positive attitude as I roll up my mental sleeves.
So I have put a little thought into my Me Project and how it really has had some positive results for me so far. My mood has been better, I am learning to take what I need and want more, and it helps distract me, if only for a few moments, from the to-do lists. But I think I can have it be part of a more inclusive system. So I am integrating the Me Project into my new, bigger project, Past, Present, Future Project. PPF. Each day I am going to strive to do something that is therapeutic to my past (healing the past or at least reconciling it), one thing that is therapeutic for my present, and something that will help lead me into the kind of future I want to have. Each item will be different daily, and none need to take expansive amounts of time, but I think this will be something that will make me feel really good. The Me Project amplified! It makes me think that this summer will be fun. I can't wait to see if that holds true!
I will leave you with a really cute picture I saw on Facebook. It should leave everyone feeling good for a Wednesday!
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| I do not own the rights to this photo |
Manatee has an excellent attitude! And I love the idea of your PPF project!
ReplyDeleteI lose your project idea!!! I also love that you were able to pinpoint the start of your weight problems. That should help in the healing for sure!
ReplyDeleteI have been working on the past inconsistently for a while now, but I think I need to take on the past with new, more positive eyes and expand my thinking on it much more. I know the past is a huge part of the puzzle. The project just makes me prioritize each piece of the puzzle so I don't get lazy and just focus on the future, which makes procrastination and anxiety feel at home.
DeleteI have attempted to examine my childhood so many times to try and figure out why I have such an issue with food/sugar. I keep having little spots of memory but none of them feel right to say THIS. THIS IS IT! I can only guess it is a combo of life mishaps. :shrug: Your project idea sounds great!!
ReplyDelete