Nothing like new workout clothes to get you motivated! YAY!
“He who makes a beast out of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man”
BEAST MODE nuff said.
So thankful and blessed to have the amazing opportunity to see all these beauties across the world. One more adventure to come and then I am heading back to Cali. Life is just beautiful <3
TELL YOURSELF YOU ARE SEXY!!!
Mirror, mirror on the wall who’s the fairest of them all? Alright, I know a majority of people dislike the gym because of the mirrors. Everywhere you go there you are staring yourself down. On the treadmill BAM! mirror in front of you. Using the free weights BAM! mirror in front of you. Go to the bathroom BAM! mirror right there and you are staring yourself down thinking, “my legs are fat, my arms are flabby, my stomach is too big, my hair is a mess, my muscles are not big enough and so on.” We all do it from elite athletes with bangin’ bodies and unbelievable confidence to the first time gym goers. But these mirrors are not put in the gym for you to criticize yourself and ultimately kill your workout.
Sometimes when I am working out, especially at the gym I am at right now, I catch myself thinking to myself, “if your legs could be a little more tone or if your arms were slightly smaller,” but today was a different story. So my gym is probably about the size of two college dorms put together, incredibly small. The treadmills are right up touching the mirror..oh what a lovely sight it is to see yourself running like a mad man and sweating like crazy. But today I hopped up on the treadmill looked myself in the mirror and asked myself 3 things.
1) Why are you here? My answer was to prove I can push myself beyond my limits to live up to the BEAST MODE mentality I am known for and to be a healthier and improved me.
2) Why do you want to push yourself past the limits when you can do the bare minimum? Deep question to be asking myself pre sprint intervals, but my answer…To be a role model, inspiration, and motivation for my clients, family, and peers. I get compliments on having a nice body, but I get more compliments for how hard I work on my fitness. It isn’t all about the body, its about being in the position where you can say “I am in the best shape of my life.”
3) Give yourself 3 compliments…I looked myself in the mirror and said 1. Your nails look really cute 2. Your shoulders are looking nice and tone and 3) Daaannng girrrll your legs be looking SEXY!
I was not very pumped or feeling in the mood to kill it in the gym, but when I asked myself those three questions and complimented myself man was I in BEAST MODE! I ran with the treadmill at its top speed I was so pumped. Throughout my workout I kept telling myself you are looking GOOD and man was I feeling even better to push myself so hard. One other great thing about mirrors is you can see how well your form is and making sure you are engaging the right muscles. When you can see you are engaging the right muscles give yourself a little smile and say, “Yea thats right hamstring you get sexy!” Now, do not take your shirt off and flex in the mirror and stare at yourself please do that in the bathroom, but just give yourself small compliments and motivation when you see yourself in the mirror.
My challenge to you is to ask yourself these three questions 1) Why am I here? 2) What do you hope to get out of todays workout? and 3) Give yourself 3 compliments. And lastly look at yourself when you pass by a mirror and instead of letting it defeat your confidence, look yourself in the eye and tell yourself, “I am SEXY!”
Found a picture of a girl doing this to curl her hair and as always I love trying new things with my hair. I had just taken a shower and decided to try it out since I was skeptical about it working. And OMG it works!!! No curling at all. Just a headband and semi dry hair. I also used some hairspray at the end because my hair is a frizzball : )
So many things on my mind I have not been able to sleep the last week or so. So here I go, sharing my life on a blog. My previous blog I introduced the new book I am reading by Brene Brown and an insight into my introspective soul searching.
Brene Brown studies shame along with vulnerability and other things that seem to get in the way of true happiness or as she calls it wholehearted living. A key point of wholehearted living is to full embrace who you are, your vulnerabilities, and accept your imperfections. Brown talks about shame stories and when you let shame silence you, you have given it more power than you can imagine. You can cause others to feel shame and worst of all, because everyone does it, you bring shame upon yourself.
So here is one of my shame stories, that just hit me and I needed to write about it (opening myself up to a lot of people right now). Last summer I went through a breakup. I was devastated and unbelievable heartbroken. I kept asking myself ‘Why was I not enough?’ School started up again and I began to cram my schedule with three jobs and a full class schedule. Everything I loved to do became everything I HAD to do. I questioned my credibility as a personal trainer, fitness instructor, and questioned my ability to succeed. I was surrounded but fun, loving, amazing coworkers who once inspired me to be better, but this time I would look at their successes and knowledge and tell myself how dumb I was or how unknowledgeable I was on certain subjects. I soon began to believe I was not enough. Then as I am having this problem already, my roommates bring up the bills and how I fall asleep to the TV at night and cleaning. I am a messy person and usually own it, it is who I am, but this time this hit me real hard.
In her book Brown says, “The key is to separate people from their behaviors- to address what they are doing not who they are.” You can apply this to yourself, address your behaviors not who you are. Well after the roommate confrontation all I kept doing was addressing this situation as who I was. Yes, I fall asleep on the couch watching TV and yes I am messy, but that does not make me a bad person or a horrible roommate. However, I kept telling myself you are such a horrible roommate and a bad person over and over again. What I really should have done is look at my behaviors. I was so hurt by the confrontation that I was judgmental of my roommates and myself. As the semester carried on I became resentful, which was quite a weird feeling for me and as Brown says it is hard to practice compassion from a place of resentment. When my roommates would say how busy they were or tired, it was really hard for me to be compassionate and connect with them. I was hiding in my shame of my minor mistakes of not doing the dishes and leaving the TV on. I hid from my roommates because I put myself down so much that I was afraid they no longer liked me or wanted me as a roommate.
Now looking upon the situation, my roommates were not attacking me as a person, but they were just addressing my behaviors. They were setting boundaries and holding me accountable (“Compassionate people are boundaried people” ). I, however, looked upon my behaviors as who I was as a person and I let shame take over me. Shame builds on shame and spreads like a disease. A good 7 months or so later here I am realizing I have been hiding in my shame instead of owning who I am and telling myself I am enough. We are all imperfect and that is the beauty of life, when we realize this and cam embrace our flaws we can truly be happy.
P.S.- Roomies…I love you girls and I miss you a lot! Sorry for being such a drag last semester.
Introspective Soul Searching
I have currently gone through some changes in my life and as my mom called it I am undergoing “introspective soul searching”. A professor of mine recently posted a talk by Brene Brown at the TED convention, which led me to test out my new tablet and buy one of her books. I purchased the book “The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Are Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are.” Here are some ideas, quotes, and things I have learned from Brene Brown.
Ch. 1- Courage, Compassion, and Connection: The Gifts of Imperfection. From this I learned that courage is not about being a hero, but it is about “owning you story” as Brown says. Courage is about owning your mistakes and stop blaming others. Instead of taking shame in your mistakes, own them and share them with a worthy friend. The more you hide in fear of your shame you eliminate your chances to truly be happy, fully love, and live in joy. Compassion is about being there for someone as an equal. You are not there to make them feel bad, good, or make note that your life is worse, but there as someone who listens and understands. Stop blaming everyone and set them boundaries and give them accountability. Connection, recieve and give with an open heart and without judgement.
I have learned so many things about myself and my past relationships. Being truly happy is not about being the most successful, being ahead of the game, or proving you are better than others but its about accepting who you are fully and entirely. So I leave you with this goal for the next week or so
Be courageous: let down your walls and share your fears with someone.
Be compassionate: Give the people around you boundaries and let them know they are accountable instead of “blaming and shaming them”
Be connected: open your heart to those who are worthy and have opened theirs to you. When you open your hearts to each other do it without judgement.
I highly suggest this book and really reflect how you may act in certain situations you would be quite surprised what you find out! Have a wonderful day everyone!
“Life’s not about waiting for the storms to pass…It’s about learning to dance in the rain.” Definitely a quote that applies to this stormy day in Wales and how I have been feeling the last week or so. Its all about finding the beauty in your day rain or shine and learning to take in all experiences with a positive attitude. Acceptance of the bad, the good, the past, and living in the present. : )
