discovery.

When this journey begins, there's plenty of excitement and encouragement from the start.  As we start to lose steam so do those believers around us...
Sometimes we begin to doubt ourselves, we may wonder why we started in the first place and then others begin to say and think, "Hmm, I wonder when her old ways will creep back in?"...

Sound familiar?  
If not, consider yourself lucky :) 

That first day I decided to stop settling for my life the way that it was, was the day I started to really discover who I was, who I wanted to be and I learned a lot about the people around me.  

I'd love to say it was all sunshine and roses along the way, but that's just not the case.  

I am a sensitive person that will be your biggest supporter or your worst enemy if you hurt me or my family...blame it on the Italian girl inside me :) 

I knew along the way that change makes people uncomfortable but I never knew the lengths some would go.  I hear comments like, "don't you get sick of always watching what you eat?", "I like food too much to dedicate myself the way that you do.", "I hope you don't always make your kids eat healthy, that would just be sad for them.", "Muscles are gross on women, why would you strive for that?"...and the list goes on and on.  Or some old favorites, "You can't live on a diet, so you better learn to splurge more often.", "I don't have time to do what you do, must be nice."

So I learned on this path of self-discovery that THESE are only words.  

I control ME. Those words have no power on me.

Years ago, a comment like that would send me spiraling out of control, eating so much in one sitting that it would make your head spin.

But I noticed long ago that when I let those words penetrate, that's when they hurt.  And when the hurt began, I had let those words win.  I was no longer in control and here began the cycle I repeated so often.  When I'd fall off and lose steam, I started to believe those words too.  The mind is SO incredibly powerful, especially when dealing with healthy living and weight loss.  It can wrap you up and before you know it, you're in that closed space with little room to breathe-it consumes you, and your entire life.  

I have DISCOVERED that these words need to be repeated to myself when...

I'm lifting weights, doing sprints, helping another woman find her way, pushing toward the finish line of another half marathon...that's when those words should have meaning!  The meaning that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, THERE IS NOTHING I CAN'T DO, I AM STRONG AND I AM HEALTHY!  

Do not let what others say or think dictate your life, successes or failures.  They can still love and care for you dearly but in a way, they feel vulnerable with you up there on top so understand that and let it push you forward, never back.  If we prove them all wrong, the journey ends and THIS journey, full of discovery is NEVER ENDING!  

Embrace it and start pushing through the doubt right now.  

Those voices might be YOU, repeating all the times you fell short, the times you quit, and YOU are telling yourself, "Wait, I have a bad knee or I have diabetes, heart disease, hypothyroidism.  "I'm older now so I can't do this like I used to." 

 "I have _____ or _____ so I can't do the things that they can do."

SAYS WHO??

...STOP now and START discovering the better, healthier you today!