I have struggled with the feelings of not being good enough to understand how destructive it can be to your confidence and well-being. I decided years ago this was no longer going to define me. It was probably one of my healthiest life-changing decisions.
Health and fitness require acceptance of who you are now in order to make the changes to become a better you. Your journey can't be about what everyone else is doing and worrying about what they're thinking. What matters is what you're doing to improve your life and how you feel about you. With me?
When it comes to fitness and especially workouts, I make them my own. I do what works best for my body and life. My About Me section explains why certain medical issues require modifications to some of my exercises. I worked through lots of emotional and physical stuff to an amazing place of acceptance of who I am.
Life is not meant for any of us to understand why things happen, but handling it the best you can when hard times come calling. Giving up and being angry would be easy but what good does that serve ... nothing.
In my case, accepting the new injured me and working hard on what I could do became the focus. Maintaining all my hard earned muscle took some creative program planning. I saw it as a positive challenge and not an obstacle. I had to discover through trial and error what worked best for me.
I am in tune and listen to what my body is telling me. There's a difference between exercise that feels good and not right. If anything twinges in the not right direction, I put on the brakes and immediately modify and do something else. I don't believe in pushing past something that will hurt my body and land me flat on my back or worse. I appreciate the gift of what I can do and will not fudge this up.
Do I miss certain things ... yes. I get so excited watching others perform what I used to do. I want to jump in and do it with them. That is just my inner athlete still alive and well. She is super cool, but my outer athlete is now the boss of what I can do now. That girl is still pretty tough.
Exercise is about being smart and creating a quality life. I understand the importance of feeling good and not accommodating chronic pain. My goal is to maintain lean mass while decreasing or eliminating discomfort. I know what it feels like to be in severe pain and how hard I have worked to achieve being pain-free.
My fitness journey is not about doing what others can do, but doing the best at what I can do. It's about acceptance of my body and the thoughts surrounding it that belong to me. I believe in adopting a healthy lifestyle to create a quality life. I walk and teach this motto daily. It's about doing what I can with what I got and that's good enough.
Thanks for stopping by my Blog and don't forget to subscribe and never miss a free update.
 |
| Be well and Stay Healthy |