Life is too short

Life is too short so remember to love yourself.
That was my focus for today's yoga session. I'm learning to love myself again. I've been incredibly hard on myself for years and years. Not just emotionally but physically too. First of all, I haven't loved myself in a long time. Part of that is because I just don't know myself. That in itself is a huge process. But in the process of finding who I am again I need to remind myself to be kind. Be kind to myself. Be kind to others. I don't know their journey and they don't always know mine.
Physically I am trying to be kinder to my body too. I'm trying to listen to when it tells me it hurts and why it hurts. I have terrible back pain. It's a relatively new thing in the last couple years. I've always just pushed through this pain. Ignored it and hoped it would go away. It hasn't. And likely, it won't. I'm using yoga to strengthen my mind and my body. Hopefully I can listen to what my body has to tell me and learn to love it for what it does allow me to do. I can walk, hike, bike, swim and most of the time run. My body is amazing. Not everyone has a body that can do all the things mine can. I'm learning to be grateful for the things I have and not wish for things to be different. Some things just have to be accepted. I wasn't gifted with a body that can do extraordinary things like some athletes. But what I can do might be considered extraordinary to others. And I am thankful for that. I know this sounds a bit cheesy but I am really trying to find happiness in what I was given in life, what I have, and not worry about what I don't have. Some of those things that I don't have I can work towards, strength of mind and body. But some of those things, like running a 5min mile or rocket science, are just out of my reach. And I'm ok with that. I'm learning to accept me for me. I'm certainly going to press against my boundaries to see how far I can go physically, emotionally and mentally. But I'm going to be ok with me. Because life is too short to not love yourself.