"No Pain No Gain" from another perspective

"No pain, No Gain" used to be my motto back in Jr high in my teens. I played all sports very competiitively and never considered the long term effects on my body. Understand that sports is not the reason I have degenerative disc disease, but I will always wonder how much my "No Pain No Gain" attitude from back then still affects me today. I wish I had been encouraged to take care and love my body instead of abusing it. At least I can say with pride that I have encouraged both of my kids to think long term always and love their bodies that they were blessed with. I miss sports but not the body abuse side of it. Loving yourself and encouraging your own healthy self esteem is essential to everyone. Give yourself a hug today and love your body for all the things it does right. Living with illness and pain tends to give us all a reason for self loathing and hatred. FIGHT IT!! Because if you change your perspective, and decide to love your self and find the good in yourself then you will bolster not only your body image and self esteem, but you bonus better health, too. "Keep an optimistic outlook--its proven to prevent a host of heart problems. According to a roundup of Harvard researchers a perennially sunny disposition will help you lower your blood pressure, ward off heart disease, heal faster and live longer. Its not just your heart: multiple studies show that a cheerful outlook can ward off other health problems and add years to your life." (quoted from an article in Prevention Magazine, page 124, of the October 2008 edition) For more see prevention.com