Between holidays and election/inauguration drama/hangover, it’s been a hectic few months for us all.
No matter which side of the fence you stand on (any fence, not just politically), I believe the one thing on which we can all agree is that life gets messy from time to time.
At times like these, it’s easy to fall out of routines, to let comfort be our guide, and to feel powerless.
The weeks after Christmas, I fell out of a structured routine. I had a lovely little strength block written, but I wasn’t feeling it. I was in a funk (which I broadcasted on Snapchat briefly, because I believe in transparency, AKA real life.), and it was lasting more than a few hours. I changed gym dates I made for myself to dog walks (which, for the record, is totally okay – even necessary at times to back off! – but this wasn’t one of those times.); I was inconsistent with my daily nutritional promises to myself (at least one meal a day is a bowl of veggies, a gallon of water every day, protein at every meal); and I slacked on my self-care activities.
It happens!
One day in early January, I had had ENOUGH. And so I dragged my booty to the gym to lift some heavy things anyway. I wasn’t even planning on doing what I had written down as day 1 of strength block, but I started, and it felt pretty good. I ended up hitting 90% of my deadlift max for a single – totally unexpected, and COMPLETELY the opposite of how I felt, emotionally, going into the day.
I say this for a few quick take-home points:
- Often, how we feel is a lie.
- We can’t control many of the events in our life. All we can control is our participation. Showing up and doing our best – even when we don’t feel like it (especially when we don’t feel like it! ::winkwinknudgenudge::) – will always lead to something positive, whether that’s an unexpected success or a valuable lesson.
- We get to create our reality.
Many of us go through life feeling like things happen to us, when, in fact, they happen for us – a cliché saying, but one I believe in 100%. Everything in our lives happens for our personal development, to become better, stronger, versions of ourselves (#LevelUp). It’s easy to go through life constantly feeling like the other shoe is going to drop, and we’re going to be totally screwed one of these days with no recovery. And that may happen! But, a better (and, I’d argue, easier once we get it moving into practice) way to go about it is to know that, yes, the other shoe will drop, and we’ll be just fine.
Every single day, we get to choose: look for the good or focus on the suck, be grateful for our partners/challenges/hard-AF workouts or complain that they aren’t ideal, start looking for better opportunities or continue the cycle of soul-crushing job, etc etc.
One of my favorite Richard Branson quotes is, “if an opportunity knocks, and you don’t know the answer, take it and figure it out.” Coming from a person who went from big box gym environment to corporate wellness environment to now working for herself, all with very little clue to what she was doing at the beginning of each endeavor (and zero formal preparation for one of those transitions), I can assure you, you got this. It may be uncomfortable, and it may get weird, but it will all work for your good. There are very few things in life that are un-figure-out-able.
We get to create our lives through our choices, and we are more powerful than we realize.
To that end, I have a couple of offers for you to check out today.
One of the most freeing things I’ve ever done is partner with a nutrition line that boasts a business culture focused on holistic wellness, quality ingredients, respect for people, and fun. Seriously, many of these women went from being random people on Facebook to some of my closest friends (that I get to troll, like, every day and who feed my graphic-tee-with-f-words addiction), and, bonus, I get to support my dreams of traveling the world/building an online business/buying absurd chew toys for my dogs. Knowing that I have a support system that doesn’t force me to compromise either my integrity or my personality has been one of the biggest blessings from 2016. If that sounds like something you’d be interested in, please reply to this email, and/or check it out at bit.ly/join-TDM (request to join; it will be approved.).
I’ve also opened up a few online coaching slots for this year! I’m super excited about that, because my in-person slots have been full for a couple of months. Online, we get to work at your convenience and on whatever you’d like – fitness, nutrition, mindset, or all three. If you’re interested in learning more about how that works, definitely reply to this email, as I tailor programs to individual needs.
Stepping into our power and honing in our skills to create the life we want to live is available to any and all of us at any time. I’m so stoked to see where the next few months take all of us!
