Lately, I have been confessing a lot of my short-falls and I am very sorry to be focusing on what may seem like negativity. But there is a purpose to taking a route through the dark woods – the purpose becomes clear when you take a moment to look up and see the light between the trees.
Basically, I had a bit of a realisation about my September Pledge that I think I need to share.
The last thing I want to do is waffle on about this, the video below says it all!
Here is the wonderful post by Kellie Davis over on Bret’s blog.
Final thoughts:
- Without thinking about anything in the past or future, try honestly to think of something right NOW that is wrong with your life?
- Back in Feb/March time, I remember writing about how I was living like I was 58kg (or something) and not feeling like it was a future goal – within 2 weeks I was 58kg!! I felt no stress about it, and lived each day as if I had everything I could ever want. You really do attract what you think about most. For example, If I had been feeling like 58kg was a future goal everyday, then it would remain a future goal.
- I also felt pretty damn good about how I looked and SO grateful about many things each day. I remember keeping a journal to write these things down. Guess what? I didn’t find as many things to complain about or be dissatisfied with – and how I looked wasn’t even a concern.
- There may be things that I would like to happen in my life; future stuff like get married, have babies, build my business more etc, but I shouldn’t let not having these things affect my feelings now. Because “now” is all it will ever be and unless I am present and accept that, I will constantly live in the past or the future, and I will never be happy – because happiness exists nowhere else, but in the PRESENT. Oh boy, this stuff is hard to explain!
So, what about fitness goals, are these not based on the future or the past? Yes, they are based on it, but how you live out the process is what defines success or failure. For one thing, if you never learn how to be happy NOW, then how will you ever appreciate that moment that you reach the end goal? That moment is easy to imagine way off in the future (that’s not real), but if you can’t deal with NOW, NOW, then when that time comes you won’t have learned that important skill! Confusing? YES!
Ok, but I have to make a plan to attain that goal – is that not avoiding “now” too? Nope! Again, you need to learn how to fully live in the moment – like you can only make good choices to follow your daily plan moment to moment. The biggest mistake you can make is feeling dissatisfied after 2 weeks of following your plan because you don’t notice any changes. This means you have attached your happiness to the future, which doesn’t exist! You may indeed achieve your goal one day, but at that point it is no longer the future. If you always live in the future (imaginary world), your moment of success will fade into failure because you simply aren’t happy now. Make sense? You need to appreciate each step along the way.
My “motivational” photo was only helping me to not be happy now. Instead of making me feel I was on a journey, I was feeling stuck, feeling a failure and feeling a massive sense of pressure to get back on track. But what track? I can only be on the track I choose to be on right now. You can only see one step at a time; you can’t see the road ahead – it doesn’t exist yet.
This stuff is enough to explode my brain at times, but I am sure on some level it makes sense – or I wouldn’t have realised that my September Pledge was flawed. I made a mistake and now I am making it right.
As I type this, I can accept my body is amazing! Whether it looks the same as 8 months ago or not, it squatted 60kg x 2 reps yesterday and that was a moment to celebrate!
What about the September Challenge?
- I still want to try and do 2 strength sessions and 3 conditioning sessions, along with my daily walks each week.
- I will still be fasting and trying to make the best choices each day.
- I will still try and get good sleep.
- I will still drink more water and less coffee.
- I will not expect to look any different to how I am right now. Because how I look right now, is all that is ever real. This is where it gets confusing. Even if I change over time, the point is that I learn to accept that in any given moment I am powerless to change anything.
- I live in a state of gratitude – tough one, but essential!
Although I initially felt really stupid for letting myself fall into this trap again, I am glad it happened, because I have now reset my mind 🙂 Whatever the mind is set on, the body follows!
Have a great Day everyone! Hopefully this makes some sense.
Challenge for not reading..
Challence :
– no exercise, going for a nice walk or easy run, bike-ride,
maybe with a friend. Maybe girls should not need to be too strong !!! I have to work in heavy dead-weigth concrete-blocks to earn my money the next two weeks… That makes me happy.. after all.. Even in the rain… I wouldn’t want to do it for nothing, or just to be strong. I need to be a little strong.
– Breakfast in the morning (No IF)
– And, for all,…. Trying to not being happy, allllll the time
The question is : Why would be wanting to be happy all the time !?? It’s a verdict..
I read the book by by Pascal Bruckner. Original title : L’euphorie perpetuelle. Essai sur le devoir de bonheur !!!
People suffer from the penalty of the conviction that we should have to be happy !! Maybe we should question us that Question deeply !!!
And when we feel depressed… It could mean that we do things we don’t want deep inside. We say yes but we mean no.. There is a gap between what to put ourselves to and the needs we have as a person. We are there were we don’t want to be.. But we persist.
Becoming tired is a sign.. The body holds you back.
Maybe.. But it can be totally different.. But starting from being content in the moment is the best.
The only way to happines is happiness.. It’s not something to aim for.
Hi, I stumbled across your blog through GSS. I love all of you founder members but it’s really nice to hear a British voice. I have a great male PT (also from NI actually) but I find the body image / mental articles on all the blogs invaluable to supplement the physical training.
One thing I wondered if you had ever struggled with would be dressing for a new body shape? I have dropped from a size 16 to 8 and I’m training primarily for body comp at the moment as I’m still not “tight”. All my adult life I was nicely top heavy so dressed to emphasise that, but the fat loss has obviously reduced my assets vastly.
I feel like the cygnet before the swan at the moment, genetically I don’t know if I’m capable of building a really good bum, legs, arms, back whatever, but I feel I have no “best asset” and that really hinders me when shopping.
Great blog BTW, I could not beleive it when a read this is not your full time job either…..
Hi Liz,
Congrats on your journey to date – it sounds like you’ve put in a lot of work. I can identify with what you’re saying to a degree, because I used to try and hide certain parts of me that now I am proud to show off (arms mainly). I actually never had boobs (no matter what weight I was; hence the boob job), so I can’t identify with that, though I imagine that must be one of the most challenging adjustments for nicely top heavy women. I guess I was lucky that my proportions stayed exactly the same as I got “tighter” – the only thing that has now changed more is my butt size. And I now have trouble getting jeans to fit my butt and waist at the same time LOL
Anyone is capable going to the maximum their body can do. And by using progressively heavier weights, along with your healthy calorie intake, you can improve significantly the shape, size and tone of your body. It may not help you shop now, but you can certainly build on what you’ve got – the weight training is the most important thing at this stage to ensure a) you keep the body fat off (muscle burns more calories) b) give your muscles more shape and c) being stronger breeds more confidence to rock any outfit!
Not sure if this helps. Maybe some of my other readers can chime in and help with this one too 🙂
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment!
Cheers,
Marianne
Thanks Marianne, I recognise I’ve been in transition now for about 2 years :-)The average lifespan of a pair of smart trousers or a bra is about 2 months. I do wonder sometimes where it will end (in a good way!).
Oh and I just got jeans in the USA to combat the waist / bum issue, super curvey Levis fit v well.
I’ll continue to follow with great interest your excellent blog.
Take Care
It’s hard not to fall into that trap when that’s all that is around you in the media. The presence of the Internet makes it even worse. Although I try to be in the now, there still is a niggly bit in the back of my brain that says I need to look like X or Y or how much more happy I’ll be if I had that tummy tuck! (having babies will do that to you 😛 ) But then, will I really be happy? So, waste no energy on things that don’t matter NOW…
Thanks Marianne, for being you!
P.S. You look great and your kitchen is not messy! You should see my place – looks like a bomb went off (that is what happens when you have kids in the house and a mum who can’t be bothered to keep things put away! 🙂 )
Wendy
Surrey BC, Canada
Hi Marianne
Thanks for your honest and caring video this came at a really good time for me. You look so beautiful too i think your such a lovely strong person. I’ve been feeling down about my weight and I keep wanting to get back to my lowest weight which was a stone lighter than I am now but this was nearly a year ago.However i am more worried about going back up to my heaviest which was 3 stone heavier 2 1/2 years ago. I have been trying to lose a half stone for 5 months (not hard enough eh? and feel like such a failure, someone said to me you obvously don’t want it enough which still perplexes me as i think i do)I have been going from one extreme to the other eating wise as i do suffer from an eating disorder at times more so when i get stressed as a goal i set gets closer to the date i set for it.I seem to be placing so much importance on a number and my inner happines and confidence honestly I know its sooo wrong but I couldn’t help it like you i’ve fell into this trap and didn’t know how to get out of it.
So i’ve decided to try and chillax just a few days ago and not be on a diet. As soon as I did this i have stopped getting urges to binge or go for unhealthy treats instead i’m just trying to listen to my body as to when its hungry. I have a big event coming up which is playing in the back of my mind but i’m going to try not let it pressure me.I struggle with my eating wheras i can keep to an exercise plan better. Exercise makes me feel good so I plan to play on my strengths here as i think this will improve my mental health.
So i’m taking your advice appreciating what i have now, how i look now, my strength and conditioning and my life now.
My plan is to
listen to my body, stop when i’m full, eat when im truly hungry (sometimes a fast resets my hunger baraometer)
eat healthy most of the time and reduce simple carbs (mon-fri defo)don’t stress about it
increase my exercise but don’t stress about it
no treats around the house as i know I will just eat them
try some yoga / me time
stop weighing myself and hide my scales
no goals no timescales just relax and look after my body n mind and focus on now 🙂
sorry long reply but this was a penny dropping moment for me too over the past few days..i hope this sounds ok :-)Thanks your an angel to me 🙂
I love your new plan 🙂 I think learning to chillax and realise we can’t make all the changes happen RIGHT now, so we may as well get happy in the waiting, is so important.
Though I would recommend throwing the scales away, over hiding them. Or get someone else to hide them for you 😉
Marianne,
Thank you for the video. Waffle or not, I have to say that these same concepts are ones I have been thinking about and struggling with the past several weeks, maybe months.
I just think you have an incredible, amazing, miraculous amount of humility and courage to post this kind of personal information for lots of people to see. Your willingness to be so publicly vulnerable is inspiring to me and demonstrates your true passion for helping other women be strong inside and outside.
I know I will be watching this video again to revisit the very deep, soulful, wise things you have touched on and I want to thank you for it.
Your video has helped advance me on my own journey – appreciating and celebrating the power of now and letting go of my attachment to the future.
I found this quote the other day and I think it’s quite apropos for me to share it with you in light of your exceptional, illuminating video:
“Stay close to those who are not afraid to be vulnerable, because they have confidence in themselves and know that, at some point in our lives, we all stumble; they do not interpret this as a sign of weakness, but of humanity.” – Paulo Coelho
Thank you for not being afraid to be vulnerable. You have no idea how many people you help. I just hope that you know we would all do the same for you if we could.
Thank you, Marianne.
-Rachel S.
Dallas, TX
Rachel, thank you so much for your comment! That quote blew me away – I feel like adding that to my about page! Although I don’t think I am truly confident yet about revealing my errors, I do know how comforting it is to feel the freedom to be yourself, faults and all 🙂 Why would anyone want to appear perfect, when noone ever is? Life’s best moments, memories and lessons often come from some form of imperfection – those “oops” or “oh well” moments haha! If they don’t teach you anything else, they’ll teach you how human you really are 🙂
My favorite part: “how you live out the process is what defines success or failure.”
This may be one of my favorite things you’ve ever written/shared.
Love you!
Aww, thank you Jen! And thank you for sharing 🙂 I’m glad this has an affect on you and struck a chord!
xo
Great post! Very motivational and just what I needed to read today. Feeling like I’m living to much in both the past and the future. Focus on today!
Easy to do! One thing I have found really grounds me back to the present is to actually say out loud to myself “I AM Happy!” It’s amazing what this can do for your day 😀
you are very insightful. Love your honesty and self reflection.
When I start to focus too much on what I should or should not be doing in terms of staying in shape and healthy, and it starts to churn neurotic thoughts, I go to yoga, it brings me right back to center, it is such a great way to get blockages out of the mind and body.
Your September challenge really isn’t a failure as you know, you inspired me and a few others here to make some changes to our bad or annoying habits.
Basically what we are all doing is re evaluating and making adjustments.
You make a great point 🙂 Thank you!
And, I REALLY need to do yoga (I know I keep saying that) :/
Love this, Marianne. When we shift to that external focus, that desire to achieve a certain look, we neglect to realize the internal focus is what matters most. And we also neglect to realize when we focus on our internal health- from all the organs and tissues and function to our inner peace and mindfulness– everything else happens naturally.
We all deserve slumps. We all deserve to take these moments for self-reflection so that we can evaluate how to move forward. That is how progress happens. It’s when we fall into these slumps and ignore then, or worse yet let them eat us from the inside out … that is when we’ve given up.
But you did not do that. You went through several stages of self-evaluation and came out knowing exactly what you have to do to move forward. Now you just need to close your eyes and place one foot in front of the other, never looking at those foot impressions left behind you.
xoxo
Thank you Kellie – I love your insight! 🙂 Gotta keep on moving regardless! Thank you again for your brilliant article xoxo
Wow, just great, and so very true! I get caught up in the ‘number game’ weighing myself everyday and measuring myself and when the numbers don’t match how I feel I get depressed and skip my training. I don’t think about how far I have come, how much heavier I can lift or even how well my clothes are fitting! I just see those last few inches of flab on my belly and go into a tailspin that usually involves milkshakes and cheeseburgers and whaterver other bad thing I can get my hands on! You are so right, it’s not about the scale or how you use to look, it’s about how you feel right now. So my goal for today is to be happy and to appreciate all the hard work that I have done. Oh and btw, I think you look awesome! Thanks for the great post:)
Oh, I have been there! More recently than I am proud to admit. It’s so easy to go back into that tail-spin, but it always comes down to losing sight of what is good right now. Stop the nit-picking, because we only have one body and one mind, we may as well use it for good and bless the people around us.
Here’s to our beautiful bodies, in all our shapes as sizes 😀
Hi Marianne,
very nice and honest video.
I’ll say something different from most of the others. Stop thinking things over, stop reading “inspirational” books (this is also another way of brooding over things, preparing for the future and not “living the present”) and just do things. I know that you have a lot of things going on, so just enjoy them and enjoy your (great) workouts.
Cheers
Sarah
Also true! I never thought of it that way. Thanks Sarah 🙂
Makes complete sense to me. A couple of books I’d like to recommend at exact moments like this. First by Joel Osteen “Your Best Life Now. 7 Steps To Living At Your Full Potential.” and second by Shad Helmstetter “What To Say When You Talk To Your Self.” I hope this helps. Marianne, thank you for all you do on this site. I really appreciate it. I can really feel that you put your heart into it.
Sincere Thanks
Greg
“You Only Stronger” by M. Skogg
Thank you Greg, I will look these up. I am in need of new reading material and these sound excellent.
Cheers!
I have never made a post before but have been following you for awhile (maybe 7 or 8 months). A New Years resolution to get into better shape and a kettle bell for Christmas casued me to search for fitness ideas. I saw your website listed in a Shape magazine and soon fell in love with your workouts. Recently I have begun to follow a few of the other ‘Girls Gone Strong’ looking for inspiration because I am continuing to struggle with motivation.
I believe this post has helped me the most. I have been frusted with myself, not knowing why I constantly struggle with motivation and get discouraged so quickly. This post has helped me to realize that my interest in fitness (for the past 10 years) has been motivated by my desire to look better and I am convinced that if I looked better I would be happier.
I am a mental health therapist and ask my clients everyday to make changes in their lives. I did not realize how much I had in common with them. How can I expect my clients to make changes in their life if I cannot. I expect alcoholics to stop drinking but have struggled to stop my addiction to soda. I hope my new insight can help me get my mind on track which will inturn help me help my clients.
Thank you for your struggles.
I am grateful for my struggles too 🙂
What a great realisation for you too! I truly hope this helps you in your role as a therapist. Imagine the way you can help people see the power they have within them right now to pick even ONE thing they are grateful for. This is how I started back in February (I was in a dark place) – but after seeing one thing, I saw more and more to be thankful for – it’s like you tune your mind to pick up on positives and like attracts like 🙂
I’m very interested to hear how this goes for you.
This was so inspirational! I’m new to fitness and working out and I have to say that your posts are some of my favorites, Marianne. It’s great to know that at every level of fitness, so much of our health still comes from within.
You hit the nail on the head Nadia. In many ways, I wish I learned that lesson years ago.
Thank you for leaving a comment!
Marianne – you are always such an inspiration and just so REAL. Your posts are always words of wisdom. You help so many of us out here in the world, so take pride in that. You make a difference in someone’s life EVERY single day. Whether it is to someone in your family, someone as a nurse, or some stranger on the other side of the pond reading your blog, you make a difference!
Gina, this comment means a whole lot to me! Thank you. When I made this post, and was uploading the video, I had a sense of doubt and a little worry; that no one cares what I have to say. Not everyone does, or will, but I know there a lot of people who read the blog and watch my videos who are searching for answers. I am still searching for many answers too, but I find myself in a position now where I can help answer others’ questions, offer reassurance and support about fitness, diet and life (not that I feel qualified to teach about life), but I have learned that sometimes there is too much information floating about out there and not enough humanity. Hopefully we will see more of the latter to help people apply the information.
For even if I know HOW to lose body fat, yet I fail to live in the now, I think I am more likely to give up after a few weeks than if I just accept each day I can’t do anything to speed the results, so I may as well get comfortable in the waiting 😀
Learning that I am powerless to change anything and making a conscious effort to shift my focus to gratitude for all the good in my life has been life changing for me. It doesn’t come naturally and I need to actively work on staying in the now and being real. But the more I accept I am powerless, let go of fear, allow myself to be vulnerable and stop trying to control things around me, the more authentic my life becomes. Thank you for the reminder and for sharing your truth Marianne xx
I totally understand your point of view Janine! It’s certainly doesn’t come naturally. I believe a lot of us have set our expectations for happiness in the moment very low, so we never really expect to be happy (hence all the future talk) – maybe on some level we find it hard to accept that we deserve to be happy. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with a friend and not talk about problems, but talk about blessings? It is one of the hardest things to do!
Anyway, in a way I think it might be a good thing that we constantly have to remind ourselves to see the good things, that way we never stop looking for them 🙂
Thanks for sharing, I think it’s a common mistake that many of us make including myself and again I so enjoy your blog because you are real. It’s good to be reminded of appreciating the here and now, and for life and health. You look great as always Marianne x
Thank you Rachel. I appreciate the kind comment 🙂
Hi Marianne
Thanks for this post! i wanted to say this past month has helped get my mind in place as to where i want to take my journey.
can i ask about yours fasts? i have read eat stop eat and they say you break your fast with a normal meal and dont eat your daily cals back, is this how you fast? i seem to remember you saying you still get your cals for the day in but just in a 4 hr window..
p.s i can’t get the code to work to sign up to the forum
🙁
Hey Kat,
Thank you for your comment and questions. This isn’t really how I fast. I think what Brad means is if you are doing the fast to lose weight, eating your calories back, you just undo the whole point of Eat Stop Eat (which is to lose 2 days worth of calories). If I measure over the course of the week, I am still averaging out at a maintenance calorie level for my body weight. If I wanted to lose more weight, I would need to eat a little less every day that I fast. I know what Brad is saying and he is right, if weight/fat loss is your goal. However, besides getting leaner, there are other great benefits to fasting – which is why I still do it even when I am not trying to lose body fat. Great question!
Re the Forum, what is your username? I will activate it manually. Though you should know the forum may be closing on October 1st.
Cheers,
Marianne
Beautiful sweet Marianne! How brave of your to reveal yorusefl to us and to the world. You seem to have an uncanny ability to touch on issues that affect us all and at a time when it seems so pertinent. I am sure all of us are guilty of not living in the now many times. While your focus is health, I thin your true calling is in helping others by sharing your own story.
Btw, I’m not the only person here who honks you still look awesome! You just said yourself that you had a PB just this week! That is awesome! What you can do right now is the whole package of your training past and present and your diet and stress and sleep. Uphill I know you love the ripped look, I doubt you would trade it for a loss in strength.
You’ve also made me think that I need to adjust the direction of my own (too rare) writing — I am thinking also that people are more interested in the path and how you overcome challenges, than realy just seeing the final result… Or in just being preached to. You are so honest in your presentations, that we can all relate your struggles to our own lives.
As for food, eliminating processed foods from my diet made losing some weight that had crept up on me… relatively easy. We are pretty much gluten, soy and dairy free, not because we have to be, but because we like it! It means I have to cook more, but that’s not too bad if I just plan ahead. Plus we appreciate our food so much more. Our food choices are part of a lifestyle change, but even so, I make sure we have fantastic treats available, so we don’t feel deprived. ‘Diets’ focus on deprivation, and you can’t live a happy life like that.
We have so many conveniences with our modern lives. But now we are finding that we had lost some of our humanity and our focus on what makes life special. You in your sharing, are helping us all bring what is really important, back into perspective.
Thank you M
~ Gillian
I’m truly glad that I did not listen to my little voice that told me to doubt this post – because I have seen it really has been what some people have needed to hear! This may be a very familiar concept for some (and even I knew about it before), but actually applying it? I clearly was not 🙁
It is amazing how we fixate on the destination (I think I may have written about this stuff before – and clearly I needed the reminder!). I agree that people are more interested in how to get there.
Thank you Gillian for your kind comment 🙂
Wow, this is what we love about you, you are so intimate with us. It keeps you real and you feel like a girlfriend moreso than a trainer. We are going through the struggles of life together. I hope we an be as encouraging to you as you are for us!
I am older and still heavy as I work on my fitness and this is key for me as well. My weight seems to be at a stand still, but the inches have been dropping off. I will try not to focus on the mirror in my bathroom where I can see every roll and the thickness of my thighs! But . . . instead think of all of the clothes I can wear now that Icould not even get over my head or hips last January! And of how strong I have become with my hard work. I need to listen to my husband who says i look wonderful! Maybe not the same as when we met, (at 16! I am now 53!) but lots better than last year. And he can even tell that my fitness is improving. I need to belive him instead of my own mind!
Thank you Marianne for baring your soul, and please know that we all love you and appreciate who you are almost more than what you do for us. May you be encouraged by the posts here and feel our love!
Loretta
Marianne, this was a beautiful post, truly. “Even if I did look like that now, I probably wouldn’t realize it.” <<< That quote is so dead on for so many women… we spend so much time chasing we forget to appreciate the here and now. I abandoned the idea of ever trying to lean out again at the start of this year and have had many ups and downs (similar to what you are experiencing now), but in the end, the value of my life always wins out.
Also, I think there's something to be said for health vs. leanness. Leanness doesn't equate to health (especially in us women) but good health can surely improve the quality of your *now* much more than an image can. Good health just allows you to experience so much more IMO. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us <3
Hi again, Marianne! I think it is admirable that you have reached that level of wisdom at such a young age. Myself, I did not learn the importance of living in the now, and being grateful, until I got cancer some years ago and was lucky to survive. That lesson really taught me what is important in life. From then my life has become better and better. You have realized that already, which really shows what stuff you are made of. Kind regards!
Hi Kirsten,
What a journey you have been on! I admire you even more now (as if that was possible); thank you for sharing this, and thank you for your kind words! <3
Fitness, lifting weight, caring about how we look and making goals is a form of investing in ourselves. Sometimes we need to reset our goals and it is a good thing, we take inventory, see what went wrong, evaluate what needs to change and then implement the changes that need to happen in order to obtain our goal.
Being here, now, is the journey. And there is no rushing through this in order to get that.
The word striving keeps popping into my head. It is a bit of a cantankerous word, especially in light of caring for your physique.
Last year, around late November, my shoulder froze. And no matter what I might have hoped for or wanted, I needed to slow my fitness goals down and stretch my shoulder out. This took almost 4 months to resolve. And it gave me some insight into my personality because no matter how much I wanted one thing, there is no training a bum shoulder, so I needed to let go of that and do the work of this. Pacing myself was key, knowing it would take months to change the tissue in my shoulder was initially a mental fight that I really struggled with. And there was quite a bit of internal dialog and struggle before moving into acceptance.
Be here now. Enjoy doing the work. Love the motivational photo for reminding you to do the strength and conditioning workouts. Revel in what you have acheived already, especially when you look at that photo. Perhaps you might factor in some congratulatory back thumping with each change implemented, positive self talk really goes a long way in helping us obtain satisfaction and if it overshadows the striving, I bet it will help you stay in the present and make the changes you seek.
Maybe you need a bullet point to encourage back thumping congrats!
Love this! Thank you Melly – I love reading and learning from your wisdom 🙂 You have overcome so much and I respect you so much for that! x
MK,
As we always say “You Rock!” I don’t look at this as you waffling at all, but thank goodness you are human. 😉 Thank you for taking the time to connect with us and sharing with us your inner battles (sometimes that is what the soul needs). You are a wonderful person who helps so many in ways you may never fully grasp, so with that being said know that you have a second family here to turn to when the inner battles seem too much. <3 Check out this poem posted by Smitty over at Team Diesel. Cheers!
http://www.dieselsc.com/invictus/
I love that Raylene! My second family 😀 We are here for each other!! Love that poem btw, thank you!
I’m very glad I just watched that. I kinda needed to hear it. Right now I’m studying my head off, I have two babies with rotten colds meaning they are up and crying fifty times a night so I’m flippin exhausted, AND I’m doing nine classes a week and then still trying to fit my own training in on top of it all. Feeling pretty low right now but your video has really cheered me up. The bright side of all that is I have two beautiful healthy boys with, thank God, nothing more serious wrong with them than headcolds, I’m learning new stuff every day and my lovely husband is currently in the kitchen trying his best, God love him, to cook a paleo pot roast recipe I just handed him. I can maintain my fitness until my course is over – I don’t need to kill myself, right? Thanks Marianne x
Hey, Hope your babies get well soon! And your hubby did good with the pot roast 🙂
We certainly don’t need to go hard and heavy with our training all year – we need to take into consideration all sources of stress to our body and it really sounds like you have a lot on your plate right now!!
Glad you feel cheered up – so do I 🙂
Hugs, hugs, hugs!!!
I love you for who you are girlfriend.
Your so strong and determined, cute as a button with an Irish accent.lol
Last night I showed my husband that latter workout you did and part way through he said “she looks like she’s ready to give up” and I said “No she won’t! She’s a trooper!!!” Then we watched the video of you outside doing the kb snatch and it flew out of your hand. We watched it three times again and laughed everytime at your expression. Your just fun to know!
Hang in there!
Laurie, Canada
Hi Marianne, great post and one which I can totally relate to! I have recently gone back work also after a 3 month break for stress/anxiety and the way in which I managed to help myself was to live in the moment, not get stressed out about the insignificant and in doing so I’m no longer obsessing about my food, my weight or anything else for that matter. I do have a goal to lose some excess fat I’ve been carrying but I’m not going to be so fixated on it that I lose sight of what is happening right now – living, enjoying the strength training and to savour the real food I have chosen to eat. In this mindset everything just makes sense. 🙂
Hey Marianne, here is another book that you might find really useful. http://www.amazon.com/59-Seconds-Change-Under-Minute/dp/0307474860/ref=pd_sim_b_7
It definitely gave me some ideas when I was going through some tough times. Cheers and chin up 🙂
Thank you Mike! Looks like a good read 🙂
Amazing. I, too, have been enduring the struggle of missing out on enjoying the now. This read was just what I needed to see. It’s as if you are in my head!