Doing the right thing

    Sometimes what brings me the most joy is feeling like I'm doing the right thing. It's nice to be able to lay down to go to sleep and be able to live with your actions and your decisions for the day. Sometimes doing the right thing, for me at least, means that I hold myself to a standard that is higher than what others expect of me. Sometime doing the right thing is not the popular decision or the easy decision but being true to myself (and my faith, in most cases). James says "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." James 4:17  Sometimes doing the right thing is just making good decisions on a minute by minute basis.

     Tonight I surprised myself by making the decision to head to the gym after a long hiatus. I had golfer's elbow at the end of the school year last year so it has been a while that I have been healing. I decided to go walk on the treadmill for a while. I set the speed and incline to a nice, challenging walk and planned to be there for a while. As I was exercising I had a crazy, Crossfit lady in front of me doing something that was probably a warmup for her but an insane workout for me. I thought "Surely, you could push yourself a little harder Jen." So, after the treadmill I did a few of the weight machines.
    On my way out of the gym, I noticed that one of my favorite instructors was about to start a class in the group X room.  I checked the schedule and saw that it was Zumba toning. My mind flashed back to my 8th graders and how much I've picked on them the past few days and I considered going in to dance for a while. However, I just exercised for an hour and I haven't really been a person to hang out at the gym for 2 hours before. (It shows.) Then I looked at the instructor- who is a crazy, energetic, hilarious lady, walked to the locker room, put my stuff away and joined the class. I am sore now but it's a great feeling. The whole class I was proud that I was pushing myself a little more than usual and I had a lot of fun while doing it.
     As I have been doing the 31 Days challenge, I have been thinking about things I can work on when this is over. Getting in shape and cleaning/organizing my house are always at the top of my intentions. I'm glad tonight started off a chain of small decisions that will propel me in the right direction.