Inspiration/Motivation and other stuff

Sometimes the words and images of others really leave an impression. So today - even though it feels a tiny bit like cheating my post today is quotes/words etc from other sources that inspire/move and motivate me. Enjoy.



 I like to read these often, 'cause we all know, sometimes the road just seems awfully long.

 

Follow Your Destiny by Vicki Silvers

 

There comes a time in your life when you realize that if you stand still, you will remain at this point forever.  You realize that if you fall and stay down, life will pass you by.  Life's circumstances are not always what you might wish them to be.  The pattern of life does not necessarily go as you plan.  Beyond any understanding, you may at imes be led in different directions that you never imagined, dreamed, or designed.  Yet if you had never put any effort into choosing a path, or tried to carry out your dream, then perhaps you would have no direction at all.  Rather than wondering about or questioning the direction your life has taken, accept the fact that there is a path before you now.  Shake off the 'whys' and 'what ifs', and rid yourself of confusion.  Whatever was is in the past.  Whatever is - is what's important.  The past is a brief reflection.  The future is yet to be realized.  Today is here. 

Walk your path one step at a time with courage, faith, and determination.  Keep your head up and cast your dreams to the starts.  Soon your steps will become firm and your footing will be solid again.  A path that you never imagined will become the most comfortable direction you could have ever hoped to follow.

Keep your belief in yourself and walk into your new journey.  You will find it magnificent, spectacular and beyond your wildest imaginings.

 

Some final pics:

A Fun Run Virgin - turned addict!

 

That's me - in the orange at the front.  Just kidding!  But I am there somewhere, towards the back, way, way back.

 

So excited today.  Ran in my first ever Fun Run - Adelaide's City to Bay.  It was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!  Like really, really awesome.  Even when I was waiting in the starting area, with goosebumps all over.  Even when I was wondering if I'd make it to the finish line before I needed to pee - didn't want to take any longer than necessary!  Even though caution is needed when running near any blokes (sorry guys) because they spit - YUCK!  Even though it started raining. 

 

I can't remember how long I have wanted to be fit enough and thin enough to run this.  Years.  And then my doctor told me I shouldn't run, because I have osteoarthritis.  At 35 years old.  That's one way to make you feel as though your life is over before its hardly even begun. 

 

And then came 12wbt in March 2011.  Thank God!  I decided, I would just run for those 12 weeks, as part of the exercise program, and then stop, to save my knees.  As it turned out, those 12 weeks, were just the beginning.  I haven't stopped.  And you know what else - I swallow fish oil like it's going out of fashion, and 27kg's lighter - my knees are feeling A.O.K.

 

 

The lead up to today's run was not without its drama, mind you.  I've been swallowing multivitamins and garlic tablets and all sorts for the past 2 weeks because all of my kids have been real sick, then husband got it too - so I tried to hold my breath as much as possible while sleeping next to him so I wouldn't breathe in his germs.  I had a sore throat all week, and then on Friday my chest started hurting, and getting tight (I'm an asthmatic).  By Saturday morning I had serious doubts as to whether or not I would be in a state to run the next day.  Saturday night though, I was feeling like I might be OK.  Phew!  I was pretty determined to run no matter what, but I didn't want to do anything silly.  But wait - there's more.  My Mum, who is so proud of what I've been able to achieve (love you, Mum),  offered to get up at 5.30am to drive me to the city and then pick me up at the other end.  An then, last night, I get a phone call from my Dad, saying he's got my Mum at the hospital with Mum in terrible pain with an ear infection, and he doesn't know if she'll be up to driving in the morning.  He says, go ahead as planned and if he or Mum can't drive in the morning, I'll have to take myself.  Sad face!  I pull myself together, give myself a little pep talk, try not to pay too much notice to the chatter in my head telling me - "See, you're never going to get to do the things you dream of.  Good things aren't meant for you." Hmmmm.

 

I go to bed early, until 3.30am.  When my mind will not stop - where will I park?  I haven't got a travel voucher to get back to the city?  What time do I need to leave?  Aaargh.  I tried and I tried and I tried to go back to sleep.  But no, at 5am, I gave up.  I did have thoughts of perhaps falling asleep mid-stride.  What a relief to arrive at my Mum's and see Mum up and ready to go, with a very blocked ear, but no pain!  A big YIPEE!

 

What a relief to finally get there.  I've never been so excited to share portaloos with 39,000 others in my life!  I grinned like a cheshire cat all the way through the first kilometre.  So much fun!  When I powered (yes, I really did come home strong) over that finish line - it was fan-freaking-tastic!  I felt invincible!  And then I got really cold because it was still raining.  But that's OK. 

 

So next year, I'm planning to move up a time group, and be with the sub-60 minute runners - ooh look, I can even talk the lingo!  Who's a clever girl then?!

 

 



Goal setting is making me sweat!

I know, I know.  I can hear Mish 'The Pre-season tasks are so important.  Those who do their pre-season tasks do better on the program'.    It's been on my to-do list, truly it has!  Today its at the top. And OH MY GOODNESS - it is H.A.R.D!  I'm feeling a little freaked out.  A couple of weeks ago I saw a picture in a magazine of a woman in a yoga pose.  The caption on the picture said 'Goal setting is powerful, but without a meaningful vision, your goals risk becoming just another checklist.  Spend some time looking into your future and create a personal vision that get you excited and maybe even a little nervous.  Ask yourself, "What does my life look like in ten years?"

Reading that made my heart race - almost like  running up a hill!  I'll be way closer to 50 than I'd like to be.  And aside from that - well I just don't know.  My youngest child will be 15, maybe there will only be a couple at home by that stage.  I've just never thought that far ahead.  In some ways never had that luxury - I've been so consumed with just surviving the current day.  And now, that I'm clawing myself back.  Finding who I am when I'm not someones wife, or mother - I feel like life is only just beginning.  And now it's only a little more than ten years and I'll be 50 - my life is over!  Now, I realise, I'm being more than a little dramatic, and anyone who is 50, is highly offended and wants to hit me over the head!  But heck, it got me thinking.    And you know what - I don't really know where I want to be in 10 years time.

Some things are obvious - I want to be fit and healthy.  I want to have raised happy, healthy, productive, kind, determined and resilient children.  I want my marriage to be a strong, healthy and fulfilling one.  I'd like to be financially stable.  But then what. 

I work in a job that I do enjoy, but really just because it was there and we need the money.  It's not really a position with a lot of room to grow.  So what else?  How do I want to be spending my working hours?  Do I have a huge burning desire to accomplish something in particular career wise?  I don't know.   I'm just beginning to discover all sorts of things that interest me, that I care about, that make my heart skip a beat.  But is one of them a career?  How do you even figure this stuff out.  I don't want to just sort of drift into one day and then the next, and before you know it, another 12 months have passed.  Now that I really feel like I am living, taking a participatory role in my life, rather than a spectator, I want to do it well.  I want to squeeze every bit of living from it that I can.  I want to have goals other than numbers on the scales.

At this point - its mostly numbers that are clear to me, so here they are:

One month goals - lose 5kg.  70.3kg down to 65.3kg. 
Not bingeing on Weigh-in-Wednesdays
Not returning to yo-yo dieting patterns because I binged on Wednesday
Run first ever Fun Run - 12km
Finish a module of my Interior Design course

Three month goals - be at goal weight of 60 kg (or less)
To have a waist measurement of 80 cm (or less)
To be maintaining my non-yo-yo diet lifestyle
To run 12km in 1 hour or less
To wear a halter-neck or backless top with confidence
To fit my favourite size ten jeans comfortably
To be able to wear a shirt tucked into my jeans without overhang
To finish another 3 modules of my Interior Design course
DREAM - to attend Round 3 Finale

Six month goals - be maintaining goal weight of 60kg and non-yo-yo eating
- Bench press 50kg
- Finish Interior Design Course (deadline JANUARY 2013)

Twelve month goals - still maintaining goal weight of 60 kg and non-yo-yo eating
- To be able to afford to take my family on a little holiday

What else?  I wish I knew.  I'm going to let it 'stew' for a bit and see what happens.  I'll be back with more.

No answers for childhood obesity, just questions

A forum post I've read has really gotten me thinking about something.  Really got me feeling - very sad. 

The forum post talked about a kid who had been overweight since he was little, but whilst being away on some kind of camp for a month, away from his family, and whatever he usually ate - he has lost 10kg.  That is mind-blowing!  It speaks very loudly to what his diet was like at home.

Gosh, I'm not making any kind of personal judgements here - I know, every parent is just doing the best they can for their kids.  The best they know how to do.  That's all we can all do.  What I'm wondering is - how is it that as a society we've neglected to pass on what healthful eating looks like?  Why is it that it takes people like Jamie Oliver to open people's eyes to what they are putting on their plates.  How did we end up in this place, where for some people, the only things they eat in a day, come from a packet? 

Is it that we are so busy doing, that we've traded off preparing food from scratch for earning money, buying things?  I feel sad every day that I work.  I work in a school canteen/cafe.  I estimate that nearly a third of the kids that come to the canteen, are overweight, if not obese.  I don't know about you, but when I was in high school (about 20 years ago - cringe), there were only a handful of kids that were overweight.  What has happened in the past 20 years?  I feel so sad for the struggle ahead of them - the struggle to lose weight; the struggle to keep their health; the struggle to move; the struggle to fit-in that so often accompanies being overweight.  So many kids come to the canteen with their recess or lunch in their hands, with nothing fresh, or homemade or not out of a packet to be seen.  Why do we do this to our kids?  To their future?

Recently, in my husband's work, a mother was given $50 and sent into the supermarket to buy lunch and snacks for herself and her 5 children for the next day, when they were going to an aquatic centre.  She came out with 5 litres of Coke, and packets of chips. 

Is it that we are ignorant?  When we buy our kids a bright blue coloured iceblock, do we actually think it is food we are giving them?  When we eat a burger from a fast food chain - I'm sure we've all heard the story about the person that kept a cheeseburger on their fridge for five years, and it looked the same after five years as the day it was bought - do we really think we are nourishing our bodies?

Don't get me wrong - my kids eat junk food from time to time.  They're kids.  For some reason they're drawn to brightly coloured non-food substances!  I can't and don't want to be some kind of control freak who monitors every morsel that goes into their mouths.  But I do give them the information about what  exactly happens in their body if they drink a glass of soft drink or whatever.  But, for the most part, I do everything I can to make sure I'm feeding them food that will help them learn and grow and play.  I try not to feed them food that will just add more complications to a life, that will already have its share of complications.

Uncovering Myself

I couldn't believe how moving creating an inspiration board for the 12WBT was.  How powerful.  Browsing hundreds of images, letting my heart not my head speak to me, call me, draw me in.  Showing me more of who I am, no filters, no covering up, no misrepresenting myself for the approval of someone else.  I am unique.  That is actually a good thing - so wish my 14, 15, 16 and 17 year old self could have known that.  It is exciting to uncover new parts of myself, often parts that have been hidden and rejected.

Because this round, for me is all about focussing on what's going on in my head - it was interesting to notice my thoughts, even whilst trying to uncover myself and my dreams and desires.  Even in this supportive, encouraging forum, I caught myself thinking - Ooh, I don't want to put that, because then it just seems like I want 'things'.  And - I'd better put something like that on, because that makes me look like a nicer person.  What the?!

My goodness!  Who am I trying to impress?  This is for me, about me.  And still, I'm trying to be seen as OK to others.  So I've made my best effort to select images that motivate, inspire, and move me.  Things that I feel passionate about, things so beautiful, my heart skips a beat.

 It's wonderful to get a little peak into the lives of other 12wbter's.  To see what makes others tick - what makes your heart skip a beat.  Which in turn - inspires me.  Looking at the world through  the eyes of someone else trying to be their best self, different eyes to mine.  What a privilege.

I think I've had myself a little life-lesson today!  We are all so breathtakingly unique and individual.  And that is absolutely fantastic!  I love that the life experiences and minds of others combine to create and dream and visualise things that are different to mine - even the ones that don't make my heart skip a beat!  I love what I can learn from that, even if its just, farout - I really don't like orange furniture!

Here's to all of our gobsmackingly wonderful uniqueness!

PS - Here's my Inspiration Board

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