Be Whole

Someone is always watching.

I have a 10-year-old niece who day-in and day-out copies me. She brushes her hair the same way, she downloads music that I listen to, and she’s even asked if she could have my clothes before I die – in a nice way.

I was laying down the other day – she knows that I usually wake up early, go for a walk, and return by the time she’s  having breakfast – so she asked if she could borrow my yoga mat to work-out and then continued to question why I didn’t go for my morning walk. She notices everything. All of a sudden she’s interested in acing calisthenics floor work and eating healthy too. So I got out of bed and went for my walk wholeheartedly.

And I’ve decided, since she’s always watching, that I need to be someone that she can really learn from. I had to think about who she’ll become if she decides to follow my path and whether I could live with that, and be proud of her.
The fact is, we’re all just versions of the people we’ve spent the most time with. A lot of who we are comes from our choices, but it’s our influences that steer us to what those choices are.

Going back to my morning walk – it’s something I enjoy doing. I needed to be reminded that I’ve been doing it for my health, for myself, and I deserve it. But also because I didn’t have a good enough excuse to stay in bed all day and I didn’t want her to think that it’s okay to quit on things because you feel like it.
                              
At times when you think no one noticed (‘that’), or no one cares; I promise you someone’s watching and taking notes.

So if you can do one thing for the greater good of humanity, (without making this sound like a lame pageant speech) work on yourself – just do you. You’re going to inspire people to do the same.