Sometimes for inspiration, for writing or for life, I look back to Regina Brett’s 45 life lessons. This was an article published and also snowballed into a book- “God Never Blinks”. Reading Regina is like reading a kindred soul that is decades older than me, has met more interesting people than I could ever dream of, and has gone through more than I could ever bear. I take her pretty seriously.

I’m currently still in the mix of reading “Be the Miracle”. I’m in a bit of a reading slump since Christmas vacation, I’d like to blame school. I did start “Wicked” though, I know, I’m way behind the times on that, but I’m in the mood for a whimsical tale. I think I’m finally over my comedic female autobiographies, the winners were “I Was Told There’d Be Cake”, “Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me”, “Bossy Pants”, and “Life as I Blow It”. The losers are “Girl Walks Into a Bar”, “My Horizontal Life”, and “Did I Really Do My Hair For This?” I blame myself for “Did I Really Do My Hair For This?”, did I really expect that to be quality reading? I’m not sure. I was on a confessional broad rampage. Which brings me back to Regina, the original, it’s-okay-to-not-be-okay bad ass.

One of Regina’s life lessons is “Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.” I can be the queen of long pity parties if you let me. The good news is they’re usually only pity parties of one, I don’t often invite others to this riveting soiree. Last night after a delightful happy hour (more on that at a later date) I got home and started to feel bad about myself. I wasn’t super healthy over the weekend on my ski trip- I thought I would burn off those calories skiing, right? Then I was kicking off the week with fried appetizers and Bahamaritas. Oops. From the minute I walked through the door when I got home it was almost as if the hostess had call “Katie, Pity Party of One”. How would I ever lose weight or have a more healthy lifestyle if I so easily violated some very basic principles of treating your body well.

“Well, what can I do do about it?” I asked myself. Then, the answer came to me, work out. Then, an even more amazing thing happened, I did. I got out my Blogilates calendar for March and drank copious amounts of water, and gently worked out so as not to tick my injuries off even more. Afterward I ran a bath and I felt like I had a small victory in my hands. Typically on a night like this, I would come home, feel bad, and comfort myself but somehow eating more and watching crap television. While some things may be harder to change, like what I eat at a happy hour after a stressful day, it’s refreshing to know I don’t have to let it perpetuate into any bigger of a misstep than it needs to be. Happy hour with girlfriends, good. Sitting on the couch shamefully eating graham crackers dipped in frosting, bad. 10-4

What are some of your favorite books to read lately? How do you recover from pity parties? How do you balance going out to eat and being healthy?