Last week today, we were at the Copthorne Tara Hotel London Kensington,  starting the day with one of the keynote speakers Paul McKenna’s words, I don’t remember exactly how he said it, but he said something like “ Most of the people wake up every morning, get up, get ready to go work or elsewhere, once they are in front of the mirror, they are not too kind to themselves! Or we find ourselves ugly, chubby, bold, or what so ever, and expecting from ourselves to have a good day after that, sending ourselves outside with already 2-0 behind”! 

It has apparently stayed with me, because when I was running today, in a sunny autumn morning in the Netherland’s wide open, green fields, I start to think why was I running? 

When I was a child, I was a big boy, but always a bit chubby, until my father came up with the idea to send me to a summer basketball camp what became a love of my life, a job for instance and a lifestyle afterwards. I  didn’t only lost that kilos but I gained self-respect, made amazing friendships, travelled a lot and I had very low level of BMI, or better said, I was very well trained! After an injury that stopped my carrier, I used to work in a shopping center, 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, what kept my body occupied, I guess I needed that after all those years with 4 to 8 hours trainings a day. Following that, I become an entertainer, in Turkiye – Bodrum, where temperatures were around 35-40 degrees, working again 6 days a week, 14 to 16 hours a day ( although it never felt like I was working ) I didn’t put a gram on, those years were “okay” when it came to “sending myself to outside world”,  with a pat on the shoulder.

Since I am in the Netherlands, became a father, but also did and do many jobs that requires less and less movement, even though I do daily at least 13000 steps, I gained and gained and gained, this “little” chubby fella was back, I love that fella as it is the nicest part of me, I almost daily send him outside not happily, not that I am insecure or I am having issues about “ what people may think” , I just rather have less Ozgur than I do. Actually very mean, when you think of it. 

So just today, as I was running to lose that weight, I recognized that I was healthy by doing this runs weekly 2-3 times, it also keeps me thinking freshly, feel much better and most probably make my life a bit longer so that I can see my kids grow, be with my family and friends, students, colleagues more and make more memories. Pity that sometimes it takes someone else’s words to make things clear to us, but I thought, let’s share with others too, may be one of them see some light in this and give the torch to someone else… who knows, because, we need to be kind to ourselves to be able to help others and be kind to them. 

Happy Sunday everyone. 
#kindness#awareness#share#health#help