It’s up to you

July 14. Last night I went out for a jog/walk with DH at 6:30pm, it was 88 degrees. Evening workouts have always been challenging for me, it’s a long day. But through all the sweat we got it done.

I so enjoyed my time reading Go Giver by Bob Burg, last night it is truly an excellent and inspiring book. Day 1 of the #75HardChallenge. What have gotten myself into.

Today up at 4:15 to meet a friend for a 45 walk/jog. I much prefer using this time to also socialize but sadly most people in my life won’t entertain a 5am meeting.  I can’t understand why? I was tired and sluggish but it was also really humid.

I am starting to feel a lot better though during the day. I know that’s the food. I have been down this road before. It doesn’t take long of eating a super clean diet with no sugar, white flour or dairy to feel much better. The tendonitis in my elbow and shoulder are still there of course but feeling a little better, I can tell my energy is improving a little.

Have you ever made a big change with your food and noticed this? I know it seems unbelievable but when you reduce (preferably eliminate) inflammatory foods from your life your body responds in the best way. Your joints become less sore, your head begins to feel clearer, you have more energy and stamina throughout the day.

This is my favorite part of making switch back to whole foods.

I also noticed that I am not as hungry which is super interesting and pretty new for me. I am almost always hungry.  We shall see how that continues to play out with the days ahead.

When we feed ourselves highly processed foods often and a lot of refined carbohydrates it tends to move through the body fast never satiating us. I notice when I eat more protein in the morning I tend to feel more satisfied and don’t get hungry or much longer. More will be revealed I’m sure.

This afternoon I went to the gym for my second 45 minute workout. I set my timer and off I went for some weight lifting. I can’t say that I have ever been to the gym in the middle of the day like that so it was a completely different crowd. A lot of seeming young athletes training for their  upcoming sports season, a couple random older folks and me. Interesting.

To keep with the integrity of the program I moved through my sets pretty quickly doing. Which if we are honest is how you are supposed to do it anyway in order to keep your heart rate up and make weight lifting also cardio.

However, my lazy bones has gotten all to comfortable with taking my time between sets. Not today I was moving.  Still nursing these injuries I took it very low with the upper body weights but still did it. And that’s it.

My Aroma Freedom Technique (AFT) session yesterday really stuck and the positive affirmations I was having related to this particular challenge are holding strong.

I am starting to believe I can actually do this thing. It isn’t actually that hard, the biggest challenge is getting the two workouts in when you are overly busy, are on vacation, traveling, have some type of medical situation or some other really hard day. But that’s the mental toughness of it, figure it out.

What I am clinging to the most right now is the personal responsibility part. If you have followed me for a bit you have likely heard me talk about this and the lack of it in our modern society. Hear me out.

Most people tend to point the finger outward (and we know when we do that there are 4 more pointing at us) looking for outside influences to blame for our lives. Or we make excuses as barriers that prevent us from doing certain things. And often they are very reasonable.

My kids require a lot of time, my job expects long hours, I need more downtime, the list can go on and on. And what has been coming up or me today is any barriers to success with this challenge on any give day are simply excuses.

That doesn’t mean the aren’t valid but they are still excuses.

And that my friend is the whole point of this particular exercise in mental toughness. The requirement to do it exactly as it is laid out without any modifications to fit your lifestyle or whatever. No substitutions. None.

Every time I hear that voice come up “but how are you going to get the workout in with this situation” etc. I will remind myself its up to me to figure it out. It’s me, no one else.

In the words of Mel Robbins “No one is coming to save you. No one is coming to push you. It’s all up to YOU. You need to parent yourself if you want to make your dreams come true.”

XO,

Shelby