IF IT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU......

I was thinking about this a lot yesterday. what is important to you? I have found that if something is important to you, you will make time and find time for it, no matter what it is. My priorities have changed over the past few years as well as the things that are important to me. I have found that I make time for the things I want to do. Last night was a prime example of this. After spending a lot of time driving, followed by sitting all day at the hospital, I felt like I needed to stay on my workout schedule. I really felt like I had a built in excuse to skip a day..I was tired, traveling, worn out.... But the more I thought of it.. The more I wanted to do it. I sent a FB shout out to my Aurora friends to find a place to exercise. Thankyou for all of the suggestions Robb, Roman and inviting me to our gyms. Anyway, my brother found a free trial online for this awesome complex that the hospital owns. I filled out the info and later in the day.. Off I went. It required I take a little tour, act like I was gonna join... But then it was off to business. Awesome workout, and I felt so good to have done it. I felt strong again for the first time in weeks. I make time to workout a couple times a month with the best trainer in the world. Is it worth my 6 hour round trip drive? Absolutley! I make time to have Coffee with friends when I don't have a lot of extra time, I work with fun people, I enjoy my kids and their sports, I go out on date nights with my husband, I love my church! So many things.. But so worth it all! I am happy! Do I have dreams and goals..yes! Have I made them all work yet...no! I'm not giving up,though. It will happen! What has become important to me has changed. The funny thing is, is not only do I find that I make time for things like God, family, friends, exercise... But what has become most important to me is the things that my family and friends find important. I seem to get such joy out of helping out others and finding purpose and meaning in the priorities of others. I spoke to one of my mom's nurses yesterday, her name was Eloise. It is probably what got me thinking. I just had gotten back from the gym and she made a comment about how that would take dedication to do that. She said that it was too hard sometimes to make time to exercise when she worked such long hours. I told her that she needed to make it a priority and she would find time for it. For me, that was getting up at the crack of dawn to workout... There tend to be few excuses not to at five in the morning. Let me say this again and again EARLY MORNING EXERCISING ELIMINATES EXCUSES! No excuses...that has been drilled into my head now for a whole and I try to live it. I was happy to learn that Eloise does exercise three or four times a week and combines strength training with her cardio. Yay! Alright, that's all I have for now. Let me end with this... Look at your priorities and make it happen. No excuses! You do have time...(to exercise, to eat healthy, to worship, to have coffee with a friend, insert other here).... If IT'S IMPORTANT TO YOU! :)

November, A month of thankfulness

I decided today I need to get back to blogging. I like to write, I'm a deep thinker, and I might as well use my Blog as an outlet, right? Anyway, waiting or the Bears to play Tennesee in an hour, I have a moment to write. This month seems to be all about giving thanks for things. I am a firm believer that we should be giving thanks every single day, but, I decided... What the heck.. I'll take a moment each day and find one thing and post it. I decided not to post in any order of importance, but just to choose what was weighing on my heart each day. Today, my post was about being thankful about my health. I could seriously write three pages on this subject but I'll sum it up rather quickly. I was so blessed when I met my friend Emily a couple years ago. I went in with an attitude that I would listen and do everything she would say if it would help me lose weight. That is how it started. Sure, there were things that I was not willing to give up, beer, wine, margaritas, tequila, dirty martinis, late nights out with the girls, weekend mornings of sleeping in and being lazy, among many other things. I was willing to do whatever Em said, as long as I could still have a little hold of my old life. What happened was something that even shocked me. All of a sudden, I started to lose weight, very consistently, not super quickly, but every single week. I started to trust this new friend I had, I started to respect her. I looked at her as an authority on healthy living. You know what the biggest reason was? Because it was WORKING! For the first time in my life I decided that maybe if I did EVERYTHING she said and went all in, maybe this time would make all of the difference. Maybe if I released the things "I just couldn't let go"...maybe just for a while... It would work. Guess what? I did it, it did work! I am all in and the strangest thing happened. It became important to me not just to lose weight, but to get strong! A friend of mine, Krissy invited me to give some personal training sessions a try with her just to take it to another level. When we went to our trainer together, it was a whole new level of challenges. That was a life changing difference! It made me realize the importance of strength. How strength is the key to health, to youth. You may be wondering what happened to my things I would not give up? Slowly but surely they became easier to give up. I was ALL IN! I still am all in. Because of this decision to get healthy, the whole world has changed for me. I became a NASM certified personal trainer. I'm trying to grow my business and expand on the things that are important to me. Helping others get what I have? Yes, it's THAT important to me! I know where others have been, because ai have been there! I still have the support of my friend Em, as a matter of fact, she is still helping me to get stronger. Together, she is helping me change my part of the world like she is doing where she lives. We all need someone, I'm lucky enough to have found the support of many friends, as well as a person who I met just a few years ago becoming one of my closest friends, to help encourage me along the way. How can I encourage you? What are you doing to get stronger? I would give anyone the tools if they just asked! It all starts with a positive attitude and most importantly a willing to CHANGE. Make this November a November of new beginnings, of new changes. Whether it is getting healthy, spending more time with family or friends, or doing something you have always dreamed of? Playing an instrument, traveling, or whatever? What are you waiting for? Do it now, do it today!