In April of 2017 will be my one year anniversary as a Beachbody coach – hooray! In this year I’ve learned more about the true value of fitness than in the collective 28 years of my life. Although activity has always been present in my life in some way, I could not FULLY understand the value of consistent fitness until I became a coach and committed to making that my way of life. To be fair – I started my life being told I would NEVER be able to be fit. Let me explain.
I was born in 1987 with a near fatal heart condition that is apparently quite rare, to put it into perspective, one of my massage clients is a cardiology nurse and in her 30 year career, I was the second person she had ever met with this condition. Yeah, that level. There’s been surgery at birth, a LONG history of MRIs, EKGs, Echocardiograms and stress tests, and the repeated message that I would NOT be able to play sports, or exercise at a high level, or have natural child birth, etc. etc.
Somehow, even growing up with this constant stream of, “You cannot” I lived my life as if I was totally normal as much as I could. While I was denied the ability to play sports while in school, I found ways to engage in it after school. I rode as many roller coasters as I could find my way to, hiked, eventually had natural child birth, and now live a very fulfilling life of regular exercise, most of which involves weight training! The BEST part? I just keep better, and NO ONE knows why.
Here’s the thing, and this is CRUCIAL for you to understand, your physical circumstances do NOT define who you are and what you’re capable of. Your circumstances are just the groundwork from where you play the game, it’s your turf. But YOU have the capacity to create/generate/design anything you deeply desire – including vibrant health, regular exercise, healthy eating habits, etc – as long as you are willing to be honest about the stories you’ve told yourself up until that point, and then decide the new story you’d like to tell yourself moving forward.
It makes absolutely no sense that I would have the level of health that I have today given the condition I was born with. By all standards, I should be living a very limited life and in and out of surgery on a regular basis, or at the VERY least on blood thinners for the rest of my life. I’m a 100% convinced that I’m in optimal shape because I never absorbed limitation as my story and instead told myself a different story my whole childhood – a story of possibility, strength, ability, etc.
Let me make the disclaimer that this is not to say that medicine/science aren’t necessary or helpful. This is simply to say that they are not EVERYTHING. There is much, much more to who we are and why we live the lives we live. Our job is start asking ourselves, “Who do I want to be?” and then begin living that life.
When I became a coach, shortly after the birth of my son, I did so because I was grappling with debilitating depression and anxiety post-partum. I needed community, accountability, and most importantly, I needed to MOVE. I knew that if I did not start exercising and eating better, none of my symptoms would improve because I would continue to feel stagnant.
In this year, I’ve learned that fitness is not just something we do for our physical bodies, it’s something we do for our STORY. The more consistent we are, the fitter we become, the more confident we become, the faster we change our stories. Any story of limitation, “I can’t do this”, “I’m not that person”, “I’ll never be fit”, just withers away as you gradually build this sense of confidence and competence that comes with your regular routine.
Fitness is an avenue for learning discipline and consistency and it just so happens to release good-feelin’ endorphins to help us stay happier, too!
So, if you’re struggling with consistency, or maybe you were VERY consistent and then suddenly just dropped off, that’s OK – we all go through it. That’s because Fitness is a journey not a destination. On February 27th I kick off my February Fitness Challenge that will go for 30 days until the end of March. If you’re needing an environment to help you stay consistent – this is IT! Not only will you have group support, via the My Challenge Tracker App, you’ll also have 1:1 weekly check-ins with me!
Wherever you are in your fitness journey, know that you are doing it right. You are exactly where you need to be, doing what you can with what you have. The fact that you are reading this blog post is evidence of that!
Want to join my fitness challenge? CONTACT ME HERE.
Sincerely,
Shakti <3