Converging Streams

Dear Friends,

Before I write this post, I want to caveat that I deeply believe that loving ourselves exactly where we are is one of the the most important gifts we can give ourselves and those around us.  I have been so grateful for the body positivity movement that has been taking hold in many of our lives, and it is my hope and wish that this movement continue to take hold in more of our lives.  It is my hope that we can really love who we are in all phases of life.   As many of you have heard me say so many times, I believe in the power of being grateful for our strong and capable bodies right now, at this moment.  I don’t think loving ourselves exactly where we are means we can never change...but I believe it does mean that we are fully worthy, complete, enough...exactly where we are right now.

When I was on my solo backpacking trip in November, I came upon this stream.  It was a comparatively small stream feeding into the larger, faster moving creek.  When looking at the creek you couldn’t even notice a difference between the creek before that stream and after.  But even though you couldn’t notice the difference, it was there, that creek was bigger and fuller from that little stream.

This past summer I looked at some aspects of my life where I’ve been trying to go it alone for years and years, one of them being my pretty constantly fluctuating weight.  This summer I was finally able to internalize that, while I’ve had some success on my own, I need the support, encouragement and accountability of a community to surround me.  I need community, I need folks who are on the same journey I’m on to walk with me and be my cheerleader and I theirs.  I need that stream, feeding into me in my journey...and furthermore, in some ways the more important realization, I am always going to need that stream, feeding into me in my journey...that need for support and community will never go away.

That realization of need was, in some ways, discouraging to me.  In this particular area of my life I have all the knowledge and information, there was and still is part of me that deeply believes I should be able to succeed on my own, without anyone else.  But that realization of truth was simultaneously empowering for me.  I am human.  I need support and encouragement, I need accountability, I need a community.  There is something so vulnerable about recognizing my need for others, but that recognition is also so empowering.  It’s been amazing to see the difference in this particular journey since I allowed myself to see my need for accountability and community and decided to really live into that need instead of trying to continue on my own.

We are not meant to go it alone dear friends, we need community.  And we shouldn’t feel shame or discouragement for reaching out for the community and accountability we need.  We are deeply human, each and every one of us.  

I hope, this week, you are able to live a little more into the community you need at this moment in your life, and you are able to be fed by those around you.  I know it looks different and might feel different right now, and your needs are certainly your own and will look different from your neighbors needs...but I sincerely hope you can find the community that fills and nourishes you this week, just like that little stream.

Have a wonderful week dear friends, I am so very grateful for you!

Love
Krista