Success comes from the inside: lessons learned from being forced to lie in bed with just my thoughts

Patience
A recent injury to my intercostal muscles (the muscles in between your ribs) has really been a lesson in patience for me. I have spent nearly 2 months doing the hardest workout program in my entire life. I have pushed, cried, sweat, grunted and had to talk myself through several times of thinking I could not continue. I have broadcast my journey all over facebook so that I could keep myself accountable and finish this program. This injury (though not a big deal) is extremely painful and has caused me to discontinue my workouts for the past 3 days. This frustrates my to no end, especially after all the work I have put in to get myself in amazing shape. Normally, I would be extremely stubborn and continue to workout regardless of the injury and I would not listen to my body. I would not have enough patience to just lie on the couch all day waiting for my body to heal. But I realize that I will only further my injury if I am not patient.

And so I am learning patience.

It's ok to Make Mistakes
I am gonna be real with you. I have accepted that I cannot workout and pushed through that disappointment, however I went off course with my nutrition when I should have been eating even more strictly. I tell the people that I coach, "Nutrition is 80% of your progress. Get that under control first and foremost" and here I am eating a cupcake and way too much sushi. So I've decided to listen to my own advice, because well, it is good advice.

Just because I have a slight setback towards my goals doesn't mean it all has to come crashing down. I let myself off the hook briefly, but I am catching myself before it gets bad. I am on track today with my nutrition, drinking my Shakeology, and eating whole foods in moderate proportions. I open a show tonight in which I am singing the lead, and it is all the more important that I eat foods that will help me heal and give me the energy I need to be my best, even with this injury. I am living proof that what you put in your body can make or break you, and hey, I am far far far from perfect and even though I believe that proper nutrition aided my eventually remission from Ovarian Cancer, I sometimes slip up and forget that powerful effect.

And so, I make mistakes, but I learn from them and grow.

Character Growth Comes from the Inside
So instead of wallowing in self pity over losing all the work I have put into my fitness regime, I have had some down time to reflect and do personal development. I have been able to work on myself from the inside, and really remind myself of the bigger picture. Success in any form means building yourself from the inside AHEAD of your outside so that in times of need, you can withstand the situation with grace and a strong foundation. I have reminded myself in this reflection time that character growth is more important than the physical physique I have goaled myself to reach. In these 3 days I have been able to re-focus my attention.

Vanity: wanting to look good is natural, but it isn't everything
So let me be real with you again. I care about how I look. It is what motivated my journey to weight loss from the beginning. It is what prompted my to buy the 21 Day Fix and get me in shape for my wedding. I am not going to sit here and pretend that I am not motivated by the idea of what I want my body to look like. But everything happens for a reason, and in these days of no exercise and I have had time to really look deep within myself and realize that I am much more than the body I want to have. This 3 days of reflection has reminded me that I need to eat well NOT because I have a fear of weight gain, but because my body needs it to function and because I am worth it. I owe it to the cast of La Femme Boheme, to my husband who has bent over backwards to support me in my health journey, and to the people whom I coach and speak to daily about their goals. This is NOT about my body. It is about my overall health and happiness and about helping as many others as possible to have the same. Though I will always care about my physique, I need to remember what really matters.


So I re-adjust my journey. It happens. I will rest until I feel my body is ready and here is what I will do until then and even when I am back to working out:

1. Drink a ton of water
2. Read personal development and keep my mind fresh, positive and engaged
3. Dive in and really reach out and help more people
4. Eat as clean as possible
5. Re-evaluate my deep down reason "why" for ever aspect of my life
6. Focus on loving my husband and appreciating more openly all that he does for me

In my next entry, I'll let you know of my progress with these goals.