My Fitness Journey

        

      Seeing as I love health and helping others get the best results in their life in all areas, I thought I would start a blog that I could start writing down my inspirations and ideas for all areas in life but specifically fitness and health.

       See, fitness and health has been quite an interesting journey for me.  Growing up, let’s just say I wasn't exactly Sporty Spice. LOL I wasn't the person picked for the basketball team, and typically, let's be honest, I was the last one picked for that darn kickball game at recess.  But don't worry, I didn't let that stop me. haha :) Like some, fitness didn't "come natural" to me and honestly, I remember starting a diet as early as 4th grade. I went back and forth from diet to diet literally until 2 years ago! I remember specifically a friend and I in 8th grade thought of a diet called the "Goldfish and Orange Juice" diet.  This is all we would eat! What was I thinking. I digress.

Rock Climbing for the first time!

    If you have ever struggled with finding any sort of fitness and health balance in your life, I can really relate! I am not going to call this "struggling with my weight" because sometimes, it wasn't really my weight that was an issue nor was it what I was eating. It wasn't exercise, because I did do that too.  I could compare my state of mind towards fitness and health similarly to me being on the end of a teeter totter on the playground with a 2 year old on the other side.  Mix that with being swept up in the "Fat-free" and "Diet Coke" world of the 90's, you can really see how one can get out of wack! Just out of balance trying to get it back into place.  I tried going to a nutritionist, didn't help.  It actually made me feel WORSE as they pinch your skin with that thing! Now that’s a way to make you feel great about yourself.  I went to personal training sessions, only to kill myself and then die the next day from pain.  Never wanting to go back. I just needed balance. 

 Now how did find this so called balance?  Well, like many others of great triumph who have come before me, by having a really low point. 

It all happened when, I had just been laid off from my first dream job out of college.  While I was sitting on the couch and applying for jobs and on facebook, I saw a picture of myself that someone posted of me at an event.  I felt like I had been hit by a truck! The picture had been taken right before I was laid off and after a year and a half at a sedentary job and I was like WHO IS THAT PERSON! That's not me is it?  Cold Turkey, I needed a change.  A lifestyle change.     

      With all this being said, July 1, 2012, I had enough.  I was done with feeling guilty about everything I put in my mouth and every day that passed when I didn't workout.  I was done with looking at all the skinny advertisements in the magazines and stores, and feeling the need to compare! WHY? One single idea came to my mind that sure, any one could have told me it, and probably did over and over, but until I knew it in my heart, I wouldn't have really known it.  

      That thought was this, if I truly wasn't at peace over who I was a person, at whatever level fitness, at whatever weight and at whatever health level I was at, then I would never be at peace. I knew that I was a child of God and he doesn’t make crap!  So.  From there.  That day!  I committed to be at peace with myself and that I would live a balanced life between health and fitness.  I would do the best I could with eating healthy and working out 90% of the time and I would be ok with that.  

     Yes only 90%.  I wasn't going to get made or feel bad at myself for having a 10% margin for error.  As a person who always strives for the most out of anything I try to accomplish, this philosophy was like sandpaper for me at first but eventually, because it cut me out of what I usually do and our of my norm, which is give 100%, it went great. 

This time, it went against my normal ways and gave me permission to say, guess what...it's ok to do 90% in your life to obtain 100% balance in your life! More like true Harmony in your life. If you must give 100% to everything, in my own experience, one tends to fail somewhere.  One only has a certain amount of energy.  Note: The book Power of Full Engagement! This also helped me with understanding this concept.  So, back to the 90%.  I would be ok with 90% in my health and 90% my fitness.  What did 90% mean? Mathematically, I have no clue, but in my brain, I would give myself an allowance to be ok with not being perfect! 

Before my health lifestyle and after! Feeling great in my after!
Meaning, if I planned to work out 6 days a week every week not matter what, these goals set by my driven inner self, if I only did 5, I would be at peace with it even if I did 4, I would be ok! Because something is better than nothing.  During this time in my life, my aunt told me "You can work with something, but you can't work with nothing." Thanks Kerry! :) I applied this to my life of fitness and health balance at this time in my life and magic, it worked.  Harmony! Just in a little different way.  I made something work, I did something, I put effort towards my fitness in SOMEWAY  during the week and I had to be proud of that.  This also went for diet.  Which now, I don't call dieting, I call it eating healthy, or eating balanced.  

These things for me, implementing these little changes in my life have made a HUGE difference in the way I view my life in the way of health.  It does take a lot to change what has been imprinted in our subconscious for years! But it can be re-written.  Your thoughts are like a re writable CD, you just have to keep telling it the new story or song it is going to play for you. I truly hope this helped someone today.  This blog is only meant for inspiration, motivation and no hate place.  If you want to hate, please go somewhere else! :) Only love and acceptance here! 

Thanks Y'ALL :)

Alicia Johanning