Sticks and Stones; Haters gonna hate

As a Marine and a friend, people come to me with their issues. I am always ready to listen and help if I can. One of my friends recently called me and said "Man, I am on this new project and before I can even start, one of the managers is talking bad about me because of a minor incident that happened on my last project."

My buddy is well respected and DID have a VERY minor incident. I know the manager who was talking about him and my advice was "Sometimes you will have residual BS from what happened in the past. It's natural. All you can do is work your butt off and prove people wrong. I know people talking behind your back is upsetting but it's ONLY upsetting if you VALUE their opinion!"

One of my favorite quotes is "Wolves don't concern themselves with the opinions of sheep."

Now, that is not to say be ignorant of what people are saying. Every comment has something to take away from it but, I look at everything in CONTEXT. If someone says something about me and they are out of context I don't even waste my time listening (or reading). If they are in context then I DO pay attention because I value the opinions of others. Notice I said "value" not "need" or "validate".

My wife, who scoffs at the word "fitness guru" and has unwillingly excepted the title "No Excuse Mom" that others have given her, is...........a wolf.

If you have seen her "What's your excuse" photo with our kids, you immediately had a reaction. Good, bad or indifferent, everyone who has flocked to her page or commented on the photo took the message and internalized it.

Some thought it was inspiring.

Others thought it was "fat shaming" people.

But intertwined in the thousands of comments, were contextual issues, assumptions and innuendo.

There were tons of people who never looked at what she IS and what she does on a daily basis. Others were so entrenched in their negativity that they gobbled (googled) anything and everything about her and were ONLY looking for chinks in her armor. The intellectual people who liked or even hated came to enjoy what further investigation lead them to.

My point is this (and I have been guilty of it also); Never be so focused on one thing that it blinds you, unless that thing brings you joy and happiness.

People that love misery need to reevaluate their lives and what they are putting their energy towards because RIGHT NOW someone is hiking and loving the views, family's are camping and telling stories around a camp fire and people are heading to the gym each for their own reasons. But, NO ONE is MAKING you do anything, not a comment, not even a picture.

For every excuse there are 100 other people in the same predicament and a few who have found solutions. If a person hasn't found a solution they are not trying hard enough. Common sense says that yea, THERE ARE people with medical issues! This conversation or the pic that Maria posted doesn't address them, nor should it.


It make me happy when I read (on the comments of the pic) "You don't have gym? I don't have a gym and I STILL exercise!"

It seems there are many more Wolfs out there than sheep :)    (And if you feel I am calling you a sheep....that's your own internal dialog)

In the end, you are accountable to you. Be honest with yourself.

Maria has a free Mommy and Me club so whenever we travel, she holds a workout where ever we go

We constantly tell our kids "We don't say "I can't" in this family. You can do anything IF you WANT it!"