kelly: living for now
*A fun little tid-bit on how we know Kelly… Kelly and Kate lived in the same dorm their freshman year in college where they both attended film school. Kate majored in film production, and Kelly focused on screenwriting. The years passed; however, they kept in touch via Facebook where Kate looked forward to Kelly’s honest, thoughtful posts about the challenges of balancing life as a mother, wife, and professional. We hope that you enjoy Kelly’s words of wisdom as much as we do, and you’ll take these little beads of truth to heart, knowing that your challenges are our challenges. Yep, we’re in this thing called life together!
Hi there, friends. I’m Kelly. You want to know a secret? Sometimes I HATE the way I look. I can spot a flaw from a mile away. So, when I recently gained the “quarantine 15” after *just* losing the baby weight, I felt awful. I moped around for a bit, then decided I should change. I signed up for a fitness and nutrition program. I made my husband take the standard “before” pictures to document my journey. I didn’t like what I saw in the first ones and almost forced him to take more to find ones I liked better.
Then I realized (once I was feeling less dramatic), the scale and pictures showed nothing about me or who I really am. This is the real Kelly: I’m a wife married to my high school sweetheart of 13 years. I’m a miscarriage survivor who is passionate about grief, empathy and self-care. I’m a mom to crazy little ones who stole my heart and my sleep. I’m a hopeless romantic INFJ with idealistic dreams for the world. I’m a coffee addict and beer lover with a fierce sweet tooth. I’m a book snob who will forever prefer books with real pages.
Before pictures? Maybe they will be. But right now, they are my present pictures and I’m choosing to not focus on the “after”. Yes, I want to be stronger. Yes, I want to be my best self. But we are not guaranteed the “after” - only the “now”. My present self gets up every day and carries me through whatever I put it through. It goes on walks and runs after toddlers and blows bubbles and plays monster and cleans the house and works and laughs with my husband. I don’t want to miss anything by dwelling on the before or focusing so hard on the after. I’m not living for the before or the after. I’m living for the now.
