For Glory & Beauty

Last week we introduced you to our heart and thoughts on what it means to be balanced in body and how we intend to make this our focus on the blog every Thursday. This week we thought we would take a realistic look at one of the many ways this area can become one huge balancing act for us as women…

Transition.

The word in and of itself is filled with tension.

It’s a loaded word and it can mean something completely different for all of us.

But despite the circumstances surrounding each individual transition, there are always a few universal guarantees that come with the territory.

Transition causes stress.

Transition causes confusion.

Transition causes growth.

It is one of those inevitable parts of life. Sometimes it is planned, and other times it comes whirling through like an unexpected tornado, but in either case, it upheaves you.

Another tense word.

What I am trying to say is that transition suddenly and violently disrupts everything. It throws you off of your schedules and out of routines. It forces you to find and create new normals and patterns and sometimes to adjust to new locations and climates and environments and people. Transition is equal to change. Maybe welcomed changes or maybe unwelcomed, but either way you can’t avoid a complete rebalancing act whenever you walk through transition.

But here is the truth about transition.

Here is the truth about that upheaving and all of the disruption and change.

There are two ways it can affect you, and you get to choose which one it will be.

It can be just like it sounds, awful, destructive, and damaging. You can let it knock you off your feet and leave you down for a while, not wanting to face the reality that is picking yourself up, adapting to, and embracing your new surroundings. You can stay mad and confused and angry and always wishing for things to go back to the way they were…

You can give yourself a second to lay in bed flat on your back (or curled up in a ball…whichever you prefer) and cry your eyes out before standing up, brushing off the dust, and taking a look around to see what you have to work with here in this place. This place you have arrived in following the transition. You can decide that of all the places your feet could have landed after such a turbulent patch of time, there must be some reason they are here and so you might as well get on with it and figure out what there is to be done and discovered here.

I am currently at that little point on the map where the road splits in two. I just walked that road of transition...  again, and I have arrived in that moment when I can choose how I will let the transition change me.

I am going to be honest.

Writing a post on being “Balanced in Body” right now for me seems a little ridiculous.

Because right now I am not balanced in the least. I am not quite lying flat on my back anymore, but I am just now slowly starting to stand up and take in my surroundings and circumstances, assessing the new challenges and obstacles that are going to be present in this place. I am just beginning to brush off the dust and to stop wishing for everything behind and starting to embrace here for exactly what it is.

And this is a struggle for me.

This is a struggle for my pride.

All I can seem to remember is the very “together” version of myself. A nanny, a church planter, a friend, a writer, a roommate, a coffee connoisseur, and adventure and experience seeker in my spare times (which I felt like I had a healthy amount of).

Honestly. These days, I wake up wondering when or if I can find time to take a nap that day and if it would be worth it anyways. Maybe I should just marathon through the day and sleep early? Often times I feel like I am drowning as a new teacher trying to navigate lesson planning and three year-olds-from three completely different cultures speaking three (or more) different languages all squeezed into my very tiny classroom attempting to learn something. And not to mention figuring out their parents and my new leadership and the Mexican education system fitting into an “American” school setting. And that’s just my job! Then there is trying to make friends in this brand new place while I feel totally unlike myself and really all I ever want to do is sleep and or cry. Trying to activate bank cards and budgets on a different monetary system and bus routes and oh, finding a church. Trying to eat clean and work out…yikes. It just all seems like too much.

Truthfully, I thought I would be so much better at this.

I thought I could handle it all.

I thought I would love every moment of this.

So far, that is not the case. So far, this is really hard. And I keep thinking back and wondering how I somehow managed to balance it all back there. Was I different? Am I different here?

Not yet.

But if I make the right choice, I will be.

If I choose to let this place, this season, this transition, change me the way it is meant to, I will come out a different version of myself. A better version.

I must choose that. I must choose to embrace all of it.

So while I cannot very well sit here and tell you that I have found the secret to being balanced in body, I can tell you what steps I am taking to find that balance in my life again.

I am trying to be gracious with myself as Jesus is gracious with me. I am accepting one at a time my limitations and weaknesses and giving them to Jesus so that He can show Himself strong and capable where I am not. I am accepting what gets accomplished each day and giving the rest to Him for another day

Yes. There was a time when I was training for half marathons and spending every evening at the gym and only buying fresh, whole foods. But that is not here. I am starting to accept that and to do my very best with what I have instead of giving up because behind seems so much better. Mostly healthy is better than not at all, some exercise is better than none. We have to start somewhere. Give yourself a chance to get going.

I am trying to not compare myself here to myself behind. I am trying to also not compare challenges or situations or circumstances in this season to any other. I am trying to treat here as its own unique place and to embrace it for everything it is, and recollect and remind myself that if I keep running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I will never rebalance. Better to zone in on one or two things and stay healthy and vibrant than to move on half-heartedly in a zillion directions

*This has become my evening treat, but one that I can enjoy guilt free while trying to stick within some healthy boundaries. This is the perfect amount of sweet to beat the crave for me!

Dark Chocolate Smoothie

½ banana

½ - 1 cup Silk Original Unsweetened Almond Milk (or whatever your preference in milk might be. I like to keep it low on unnatural sugars and add some protein. Also add according to your preference in thickness)

4-5 ice cubes

1 tbs almond butter (or peanut butter if you would rather)

2 (generous) tbs Hershey’s 100% CoCoa (I like a really dark chocolate-y taste)

ABOUT RACHEL

I am a preschool teacher at a Christian school in Guadalajara, Mexico. I love hot air balloons, fresh flowers, and finding the beauty in the simple, everyday things. I desire to obey Jesus in all things and follow wherever His grand adventure leads! Life with Him is the very best kind!

Connect with Rachel on Instagram (@zuva17).