We were talking about our mutual passion to help people live a full life of wholeness through taking care of their bodies. For us, it is not so much about the perfect chiseled abs, or the beautiful sculpted legs, or the way we look in a bikini. It is so much more than this. It is so much more than the chase of the perfect body we dream of. Those things are temporary. We, quite frankly will not ALWAYS have the body we desire, for reasons we can or cannot control; old age, multiple babies, illness, surgery. But health, fitness, this terminology of the word wholeness, I use so often, is something deeper. It's not just a physical transformation, which does happens when we take care of ourselves and is confidence building, but, something deeper than JUST the physical. To me, it is about a body AND soul change. And that is the transformation we are after.
As I was chatting with my new friend she said this word that now makes so much sense to me. The word SETTLED pierced something in me and has stuck with me. Settled is when we feel comfortable in our own skin: saggy, droopy, tight, young, or old. Whether we have a six pack or love handles.
We feel settled- content-confident.
Taking care of your body from a soul’s perspective makes us feel settled.
It doesn’t mean we let ourselves go, eat fast food, never exercise, and say, “Well, I feel settled in my state.” That’s not healthy or the settled feeling I am talking about.
Settle in the dictionary means a variety of things. I like it best as a verb. To be settled can mean to come to rest, to take up residence, to be calm or composed.
Settled to me means: content in your skin, your body, your dreams, your mind. To be who you are without any apologies or buffers.
I want to come to rest, to be calm and composed with myself. To fully take up residence in being me. The me that God designed for a purpose 36 years ago. I want to fully reside in that place and purpose.
I write this piece on being settled not because I function in this place all the time.
This is what it looks like when I am not "settled."
*I get a picture on my TIME HOP from a year ago and I think, “Wow, I was much thinner there.” And then I go into the mirror and start to analyze myself, and bring my husband in to ask if I look different than last year.
(TIP: Don’t ever ask your husband, they will never tell the truth for fear of couch sleeping.)
*Sometimes I don’t feel settled in this season. The dreams and hopes I have can feel derailed in the mundane chores of life. Where is my personal assistant that does all the things I don’t wanna?
*Sometimes I don’t feel settled as a spouse or mom. I feel as if I haven’t done enough to love my family. The constant laundry piling up shows I am not organized or cannot handle all facets of life well.
I desire to function in a place of being settled. If someone looked at me, they would say.
"She is completely settled in her true self. She is content in who she is with no apologies. She’s not perfect, but she doesn’t pretend to be. Her worth does not come from her workouts, her body, her accomplishments. Her worth and identity come from something inside her, a peace so deep that exudes from her core, even when all hell breaks lose in her life. Not a fake peace or fake “keep it together act,” but a real peace of mind. A confidence that only God can place inside of her. Something that she couldn’t be on her own."
So I never thought I would say this. But I am ready to SETTLE.
How about you? What would it look like in your life to be settled?