My Fitness Journey

I’ve found myself often frustrated in life. I wanted to make things happen, I had goals I wanted to accomplish, dreams I wanted to come true, but I was missing something. Then there was a moment in my life where I felt a strong impression from God teaching me that if I wanted to get things done, I would need to learn discipline. And just like the good God He is, He soon then gave me the inspiration that I should start exercising to gain discipline. 

I joined a gym and it was going okay until I slowly started to trickle away from showing up. I thought I failed once again in trying to workout, which has been a 20 year challenge from me since high school. 

But I felt the encouragement from God to keep trying. I tried Orange Theory for the first time. My goal was to just show up for one whole year. I made that goal as a New Year’s resolution in 2023. I learned from my previous experience. After being sedentary for many years, I came in too strong and hard and overwhelmed myself. This time I made a clear goal to myself and made it clear during signing up that my goal was to show up. Actually, I told Coach Jackie that my goal was to not quit. (I don’t know if that’s a positive sounding goal, but it worked for me.) I showed up the whole year, at least once a month. 

2024 came along and I made a decision to keep it up. I got injured from trying an Adult Beginning Ballet Class at the beginning of the year. I stretched my back way too much too soon. I forgot I wasn’t 20 years old anymore. So I had to sit out January. I was a bit bummed. Once I got better, those sedentary roots kicked in and it was hard to get going again. I had to think of something creative, some incentive with accountability to get me going again. 

And that’s what some of you have seen on my Instagram—Beginning Again 3x/week. My prize: a new purse IF I’ve worked out 3x a week. I made it happen! Oh it’s crazy how focused one can get with an incentive. My current purse was so beat up, this goal motivated me. 

So working out and making my goals happen have been connected. I didn’t research anything, but all I know is that my mind has gotten stronger. Less depression, negative thoughts, anxiety. My body has become stronger. Pushing my body has enabled me to endure challenges in every area of my life better. And this strength has given me a great foundation for my dreams to take flight. 

I give all thanks to God for always wanting the best for me. Sometimes you just gotta listen and then go make it happen.