What an honor you’ve taken a bit of your day to join me.  We have a lot of people and responsibilities grasping for our attention – husbands, kids, pets, work, social media, chocolate – so I thank you for your time.

This is not your typical fitness blog.  You won’t see pictures of me flexing my abs because you kinda can’t see them.  I guess I do have a six pack but it’s, uh, cushioned.  “All-or-nothing” doesn’t fit into my (attempted) balanced lifestyle and I won’t ask you do it, either.  Nor will you get crazy intense workouts here.

What WILL be on Graced Health are posts to help us be more active and fit.  We’ll give ourselves grace when don’t achieve that.  We’ll explore why we want to be healthy and how we can get there while keeping our other responsibilities in check.

I’m 41. I spent the better part of my 20s trying to have abs good enough to get a belly button ring.  I never got one.  Ironically, I feel like I’m in better shape now than in that decade, but my goals are different.  Belly button rings have given way to honoring the body God gave me and just trying to treat it well enough for me to last a long time.

I’m starting to feel the effects of age and I want to keep my body strong but protect it from unreasonable wear at the same time.   What’s the point in being able to squat my body weight now if I can’t bend down and pick up my car keys when I’m 70?  I’m not interested in exercising so hard that I don’t have energy to hang with my husband and kids.  And quite frankly, I’d rather have a cushioned six pack and enjoy a margarita with chips and guacamole than analyze every bite of food that enters my mouth.

When I was in my 30’s, I was told that once you get to 40 you embrace the curves.  Instead, I’ve learned to shift my focus from my perceived flaws to celebrating my achievements.  I’ve run several half marathons and sprint triathlons, I can bang out some killer push-ups, run hills with the best of them, and perform all kinds of plyometric exercises.  I’m not the strongest, thinnest or most fit person out there but I’m confident in my own strong, fit space. My focus now is my accomplishments, not on what is holding be back from being on the cover of Woman’s Health Magazine or squeezing into a tube top that only Barbie can get away with.

We can all have our own physical wins.  If you’re new to exercising, that might be running a mile – or even a block! – without stopping.  Trust me, that is a huge win!  It might be doing a full push-up, or even walking the dog faster than you’re used to.  Graced Health will journey through making better decisions today than we did yesterday and adding a heaping side of grace to our days that didn’t look like we planned.  My inevitable challenges and slip-ups can be turned into learning experiences for all of us.

Thanks for joining me and I look forward to our journey of health and grace.  Oh – we will definitely stop for chocolate and wine along the way.