We\u2019ve had the worst houseguest all winter. In fact, I\u2019ve never despised anyone more. It’s bad enough she showed up unannounced – but now she hangs out in the WORST possible places, and REFUSES to leave! I\u2019ve been downright rude to her and I’m always telling everyone how much I hate her, even when she can hear me. She doesn\u2019t care. She won\u2019t leave and her annoying presence aggravates me more and more every day. So I started serving her all the nastiest foods: kale, green smoothies, turmeric tea, brussel sprouts. In fact, all the sprouts. She, however, laughed in my face and propped her feet up on my coffee table as if to say, \u201cI ain\u2019t goin\u2019 anywhere, girlfriend. Get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I told her in no uncertain terms that I will never get used to it! I refuse to give in to her obstinate and demoralizing ways. She will never get the best of me and I\u2019ll kill her if I have to \u2013 but she is NOT stayin\u2019!<\/p>\n

So in yet another attempt to get her to leave, I signed up for a membership at Planet Fitness. This will surely piss her off<\/em>, I thought. She lugged along with me to my workouts and again, very condescendingly laughed at me when I was sweating after just 15 minutes and struggling to get through a full workout.<\/p>\n

This is the MOST unwelcome guest I\u2019ve ever entertained. And I never even meant to host her – she just kind of appeared. Slowly… I noticed her more and more and more. She just latched on – attached to me like a barnacle, a leech, a life-sucking demon.<\/p>\n

So now, in an effort to destroy the guest I never wanted, I go to Planet Fitness as much as possible. But the problem is, I hate Planet Fitness, too. It’s so depressing because I feel like everyone’s grandmother. It doesn\u2019t help that I live in a college town and all the perky little college girls wear\u00a0painted on leggings over their perfect tight butts and strut around with all their trendy tattoos and bras for shirts. And even though this college is my alma mater, I think they now disregard literacy as a criteria for admission. Although I am clearly perched DIRECTLY beneath the words \u201cJudgment Free Zone\u201d \u2013 I can still feel their glaring\u00a0weasel-y eyes on me as they think \u201cI\u2019m never gonna let myself go like that mom. When I\u2019m old, like her, I\u2019ll still wear these tight-ass leggings and turn heads at the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My mom says paranoia runs in our family – but I think she just tells me that to get in my head and watch me self-destruct so she can tell the rest of the family and all her condominium friends what a nut-job I am when they admit me to the psychiatric hospital where I work…<\/p>\n

And on this one particular day, with my stupid guest latched heavily to me, my soul was especially downcast. I was feeling so burdened with my health issues, a body that felt like it was failing me, and just overall feeling “less than”. What I really wanted to do was stay in bed til Memorial Day, but somehow I’d found a modicum of strength to drag my sorry ass to Planet Fitness.<\/p>\n

I found my favorite treadmill right underneath the sign \u201cJudgment Free Zone\u201d just in case any college Barbie dolls forgot the rules. I walked\/ran for as long as my compromised lungs would let me.<\/p>\n

I wanted to cry. My lungs said, \u201cStop! We\u2019re hurting!\u201d My unwanted guest said, \u201cI told you I\u2019d never leave! You are stuck with me forever strapped to you!\u201d My feet said, “Will you ever break down and buy some orthopedic tennis shoes???” My head said, \u201cFace it, Cindy, you are old, fat, and irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

My heart said, \u201cI\u2019m broken. Let\u2019s get out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I bolted for the door.<\/p>\n

And then\u2026.
HOLY OF HOLIES\u2026.<\/p>\n

A beautiful college-aged brunette who was working the Planet Fitness desk – her Chemistry book open on her lap – looked up at me, smiled, and said, \u201cI like your hair.\u201d
I looked over my shoulder convinced she must be addressing someone else. There was no one else there.<\/p>\n

I pointed to myself as if to say, \u201cWho me??? This old lady here with enough extra weight I’ve even personified it as an unwanted guest??? This embarrassment to the Planet Fitness establishment who couldn\u2019t even exercise a full hour? You mean me???\u201d<\/em>
She said, \u201cYeah. It\u2019s cool. I like the color and the cut.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flabbergasted. I\u2019m pretty sure I forgot to say, \u201cThank-you.\u201d or even a meager, “And I like your tight leggings”.<\/p>\n

As soon as I was in my car I sheepishly checked my hair, \u201cYou know, your\u00a0hair really ain’t too bad. It\u2019s not grey yet. And with just a little highlighting help in the winter, the color’s not disgusting. Maybe you\u2019re not a total loser…\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And I literally felt my head lift a little. I felt the unwanted guest shrivel up a bit as I decided to face her head on, admit she was all my fault, and commit to eliminating her entirely. I felt the sun peak through the clouds. I felt like God himself was saying to me, \u201cI love you. I don\u2019t care about a few extra pounds. I don\u2019t care about what others say or think about you. You are special to me and I’m especially fond of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that, my friends, is the power of ONE COMPLIMENT. My whole view of the world shifted in that moment with one simple remark. And I stepped out of Planet Fitness that day having learned some priceless things:<\/p>\n

\n
• We absolutely CAN change the world one smile, one kind word at a time.<\/li>\n
• WE get to choose the narrative of our lives. There\u2019s much we can\u2019t edit (disease, death, loss, trauma, broken relationships, etc.) but we CAN choose the direction of the story based on our response to those things.<\/li>\n
• Don\u2019t underestimate the power of our words \u2013 both for the good and the bad. Use them wisely!<\/li>\n
• Listen to God. His words are always best.<\/li>\n
• Go to the gym. It doesn\u2019t totally suck.<\/li>\n
• Don\u2019t eat the tootsie rolls on the way out of Planet Fitness! Can you say, \u201cSaboteur\u201d???<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  Go get \u2018em friends! Show those unwanted guests the door! Anything in your life that you didn’t want and didn’t ask to take up residence – maybe it’s jealousy or anger or fear or drinking or extra weight or working too much – whatever it is, tell it to take a hike and \u00a0get back the life you know is yours!<\/p>\n

  (And if you\u2019ve ever worked at Planet Fitness and you tell me that employees are instructed to compliment patrons who look like they\u2019re on the verge of tears, I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR IT<\/span> AND I WILL UNFRIEND YOU FASTER THAN YOU CAN SAY “LEGGINGS”!)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  We\u2019ve had the worst houseguest all winter. In fact, I\u2019ve never despised anyone more. It’s bad enough she showed up unannounced – but now she hangs out in the WORST possible places, and REFUSES to leave! I\u2019ve been downright rude to her and I’m always telling everyone how much I hate her, even when she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,20,23,35,36,1],"tags":[55,65,81,83,86],"yoast_head":"\n