Let's Cheer Each Other On!

Let’s Cheer Each Other On.

So it’s 2017 and I have to say I don’t have any resolutions this year. Just promises and commitments. 

I am embarking upon my 40^th year this August and while it scares the bejesus out of me. I also have been thinking, hopefully not morbidly, but more naturally about my life, my family and mostly the legacy I will leave.  Especially for my 3 boys.  I often wonder what they see when they see me.  What do they think of when they look at me, or describe me.  Recently they have watched me physically transform myself back into who I was mostly before they came into my life.  Baby weight and me do not get along well—for some reason it wants to hang on for dear life and overstays its welcome.  I have worked my a$$ off over the last 5 months to lose 50 of the 60 pounds I gained from baby #3, so I hope when they look at me, they see someone now that is determined, although exhausted, and on a mission to not only look better and feel better, but to just be better.  I want them to see me as strong and confident, versus who I have been for a while which was the opposite of that and it was not fair to them.

So now that that is out of the way.  I also want them to have something else to “remember of me”—(notice how I didn’t say remember me by, I mean I am turning 40 not 80).  But I feel like they kind of got short changed sometimes in the “mommy department”.  Not when it comes to love, because they know I love them more than anything and I would do anything for them.  But when it comes to the other little things, like cooking, baking, crafting, sewing…that’s not me.  I mean I can cook, bake, craft and sew, I just don’t do it well, something will burn, be crooked, warped, you name it. We may get a good laugh out of it but that’s about it.  I feel like someday they won’t have a book of my recipes or tell their wives and children how I was a great cook, or made a mean chocolate cake.  They won’t have a blanket I knitted for them to pass down, or whatever else those crafty types make.

Maybe it’s me, but this is the stuff I am thinking about these days.  So it got me thinking, who am I? What can I do to show them who their mom is or teach them who I want them to be? Recently I explained to my two older sons that in addition to my “day job”, I am intuitive and try to help others, coach them, advise them, but they really don’t fully understand what exactly that means yet. Heck, I still am trying to understand it myself.   

What I aim to show them is that I am trying to make a difference and help others, and it has provoked me to start to get them to make a difference, just in the small gestures we may take for granted on a daily basis.  For example, when you are out somewhere and someone compliments your hairstyle or shoes, it makes you feel good.  I have never been the type to openly do the same, it’s not that I don’t want to complement others, or don’t have a complement to give, I think I am just in some weird way worried about making them feel awkward maybe?  But recently I have decided to go out of my way to point out the good in others, complement what I like of someone’s outward appearance, gestures, achievements, etc.  Why? Because it just makes others feel good and offers something other than the mundane for a change, especially when there is so much negative out there.  Even more importantly, I started celebrating my own successes, even if small, like a pound lost, finally reading a book, etc.  How often do we applaud or cheer ourselves on? Not often enough.

This is what I want to teach and influence over my boys.  I want to show them positivity.  I want to teach them to point out the good in themselves, look for it because it is there, even if it is something small.  Hell even to celebrate and be okay with their defeats. 

Look for and cheer on the good in others, and furthermore-tell them, point it out, make them feel good.  MAKE SOME NOISE. Don’t be afraid if you are the only one to do so either.  You know that feeling when you are in a crowd, and you want to clap, but no one else is clapping yet?  Don’t wait—be the one to start! That’s what I want to teach them. To start it.   

If we start to cheer one another on, and others on, those people will hopefully do the same, and the people they applaud will in turn do the same…and it will start a ripple effect.  We will all be able to hear the applause.

This is how I was inspired to start what I hope will be a movement (even if it is just one among me and my boys)  #justkeepclapping.  It is my promise to do what I can to keep it going in 2017.

I am hoping that by starting this, we can all lift each other up, post the good we find in ourselves and in one another, using the hashtag #justkeepclapping and see it go around many times over.

Who’s in?!

I applaud you.

#justkeepclapping

Xo

Gina

Below is an explanation from my blog on my website www.ginaclapprood.com.

Just Keep Clapping. We are all a work in progress. We often place unnecessary pressure on ourselves to be better and do better.  For what? Who are we trying to impress? I say we take a step back and stop the madness. 

We need to first celebrate ourselves.  Applaud ourselves.  Celebrate the small wins.  Heck, celebrate our imperfections and failures too! Clap more.  Have you ever noticed the vibe in the room when you are in a crowd and there is applause? That electrifying feeling you get? It’s infectious.  Clapping for someone to show your proud of a job well done, they made you laugh, you are on board with their vision and message, or a concert performance that touched your soul?  

We need to feel more of that! 
 
We need to learn to applaud ourselves.  I am a work in progress. I am learning how to applaud myself, celebrate my wins and learn from my defeats.  Let’s applaud one another, complement one another, and lift each other up.  I will always applaud you, support you and encourage you.  

So let’s keep clapping for one another in this crazy little thing called life.  Stand up and make some noise.  Start a ripple effect.  #justkeepclapping