I’d be lying if I said I could count the revisions of this
post on one hand, for some odd reason talking about myself just doesn’t come
naturally when I put pen to paper. This whole idea of this blog came about from
injury, I had A LOT of time to kill after messing myself up in a car crash and
I wanted to use my experience to inspire and educate others to improve their
lifestyle and maintain it. Yet, it’s only now that I have found the drive to
write consistently.
Not wanting to bore you with the long story, I sat on
this post for a long time. It wasn’t until Sunday that I got some inspiration
on a walk/run up to Godly Heads when Hubby to be took a photo of me – I managed
to run more than 1km and I had abs. Yes, abs. I used to train twice a day and
never had abs! Magic. Let's take a look at me looking tough with these babies, I'm pretty proud of what's come to the surface - it's taken a lot of mental and physical dedication.
Being body confident is such a huge thing for me. Gone are
the days where breakfast consisted of chocolate milk and Kit Kat, present are
the days where I just want to look fabulous over summer, be strong and feel damn
good about myself. For me, before I went back to the gym I felt weak, I was
weak, my booty was small and no longer toned. So, I decided to do something about it.
The last five months has been only a small portion of my journey but I’ve
noticed myself feeling more confident and accomplished with each goal I reach.
We all develop insecurities as we grow up. Not curvy enough,
too much on the plus side, too muscly, too skinny, too hairy (amen to laser).
No matter how much we know this act of body shaming needs to stop, we are so
quick to tear ourselves apart right down to the smallest detail. But Why? It’s
not going to make us any happier. Why is it that some of us need to wait until
we hit rock bottom before we start to look after our bodies? It’s only going to
add to the frustration when your milestones aren’t reached. Why not start now,
pace yourself and ease into it?
We need to love ourselves, and part of that love needs to
involve accepting our insecurities. I’ve
got broad shoulders and massive traps, in fact my nickname is “traps” but hey –
I can’t do anything about that so why bother worrying? Focus on what you love
about yourself, improve weaknesses where and if you can, and give yourself the
confidence you deserve.
Back to those goals. I always had aspirations to compete in
an Olympic Weightlifting competition, and a close friend of mine had recently
made the transition from CrossFit to Weightlifting. I quickly followed her to
Surge Performance and started training based solely around this – Goal one, complete. Within months, I competed in my first
lifting competition – Goal two, check. And after a few more competitions goals
three and four were achieved – I can now say I am just as strong as I was prior
to my break, and I am five weeks away from competing in a National competition.
I can’t run long distance (99% due to willpower) but, I feel strong and that’s
what I wanted.
Had I not given myself small goals to accomplish, I really
don’t think I would be sitting here writing this today. I made sure these goals
were both achievable and measurable, and although I had a rough idea around
timings, I didn’t set a timeframe around hitting them. The next goal was always
in mind to keep me going. Looking back on previous months, weeks
or even days is so important when it comes to reaching your goals and is something I constantly reflect on. Heck, five
months ago I was struggling to lift a bar over my head, now I’m lifting a whole
ME!
There is always a light at the end of the tunnel, you just
have to start. Just like me, just like the person you idolize most in this
world. What’s holding you back? Why would you wait until six months before your
wedding to start “shredding” – wouldn’t you be happier if you started now? We both know that your body will certainly feel better! And what about those aspirations you
have? Aside from maybe money, what’s stopping you going out and making it
happen? Start planning, start networking and talking to people about your ideas
– you never know what will come out of a simple conversation.
Well, that's me, so... What are you going to do?
No comments:
Post a Comment