jo burgess hannon

fit for today, fit for life

The stuff of champions

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I got to give it to Lady Gaga.  After performing in Super Bowl 51 she got a lot of shade thrown her way: for having a muffin top.  Really?  Anyone else out there experience a little extra pinch worthy skin at the top of your fitness pants?  (Or in Gaga’s case, her fitness panties)  Her reaction is really the lesson to take away from a lot of unnecessary body shaming:

“I heard my body is a topic of conversation so I wanted to say, I’m proud of my body and you should be proud of yours too,” she wrote on Instagram in the caption of a photo of her performing. “No matter who you are or what you do.”

Be you, relentlessly you.

Life is good

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Ah, do you remember when you first saw or heard this phrase?  My first was on a sun visor given to me as a gift.  Like you, I have had some rough times, struggles. However, maybe life is good if we look for the good even through the hard.

I shrug my shoulders as I say to myself, ‘struggles’. In the end, I think some of the past challenges have been significant. really. significant. Some have been admittedly minor when I pull back and look at the big picture.

Yep, we have all had them, struggles.

However, life doesn’t have to always be great to be good. So I leave you with this quote to ponder:

“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.”                         ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Mood rings, corn dogs & plans for 2017

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When I see New Year’s resolutions, goals for 2017 and other posts about the months ahead, they mostly make me smile.  I love seeing a work in progress, progressing. One made me pause.  I think my old mood ring would have turned a little blue reading it: “be my best self in front of my daughter.”

I grew up on the outskirts of Seattle. We were about a 20-minute drive on I-5 to the downtown Sears.  My mom would call in a catalog order from the Big Book. I almost always went with her to pick up the packages. Sometimes there would be a promise of a hand battered corn dog from one of the store’s upper floors. Side note: probably good that I don’t have a deep fryer because I still love ’em. On one trip, I can remember my mom being rude to a clerk at Will Call because our order wasn’t ready as promised. Probably that wasn’t her best self. Because it’s 2017 I should probably insert the smirking smiley face emoji here…and hashtag #reallife

Mammas, it’s ok to let your kids see you BE YOU: not perfect, maybe a little sad, maybe hot mad, maybe overjoyed or overcome with emotion. Yes, your family needs you to be the rock on solid foundation.  Yes, your people need to be able to depend on you being steady. Emotional stability can bring a lot of comfort to a home: people like knowing what to expect when they come through your door.

I get this mamma’s ambition. Still today, I want to be a positive role model in my adult daughter’s life. Fact: I am not always. However, wouldn’t it serve her better if I worked to be my best self in front of everyone?

Wouldn’t it serve her better if I worked to be my best self, for myself?

And back to Sears: next to the corn dog stand was a big glass vending machine with a claw that let you grab a plastic bubble holding a prize.  I think it cost a quarter, which was a lot when I was 5. (Yikes, that would have been 1968.) I wanted the one with the mood ring in it, really bad.

Making a list and checking it twice

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This time of year we can get caught up in shopping, wrapping, baking and cooking.  As I spoke to a close friend on the phone, I glanced at my list on the counter and realized that it did not really matter.  She wasn’t distraught over a president-elect, nor distraught over whether or not she finished her treat platters. Her only concern, days before Christmas, was for a family member who had checked into the hospital.

My heart aches for her, for her family.  The outlook is good, yet I can only imagine how their world has been rocked; how this season, life is going to look different from years past.

Being present over presents, that is the gift I am going to try and give to the people in my life. And I might just throw my list away  in a drawer and check it twice after the weekend is over.

Merry Christmas to you all!