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Sunday 25 May 2014

Look in the Mirror


A client shared some of their struggles with weight and self-image with me earlier in the month.  I encouraged them to write about it.  This was posted with the permission of that client, who wants to remain anonymous, but would like to share their struggle in hopes that others can relate to what they are going through:   
     
I’m very proud of you!

Ro.

Look in the Mirror

Looking in the mirror, I didn’t recognize what I saw.  I don’t know how long it’s been going on for, but I guess I have always had an image in my mind about what I looked like to other people.  I thought I was in a good place with my fitness and my eating habits.

Until I was getting ready for a dinner and none of my good clothes fit. 

It used to make me laugh, thinking how useless it was to look at yourself in the mirror and feel bad about how you look.  I’ve more or less, had a good relationship with myself and a relatively positive self-image for most of my adult life.  But I think that I’ve turned a blind eye to things that have been creeping into my life that shouldn’t have ever been there.

My relationship with food has become the mirror.  It's become a mirror of my relationship with myself.

Now, I suppose I have a choice to make.  I can give up and sink further.  OR I can dig my feet in and start process of reclaiming lost ground.  

I refuse to give up.

Saturday 17 May 2014

Time and Time Again




Time waits for no one.  We end up waiting for time.  And too often, time fails to show up.

In terms of our mental health, we need to schedule time for ourselves.  We also need to schedule time for our workouts.  If the relentless pursuit of more time is not filtered through the discipline of time management, some of the most important parts of our lives can slip through the cracks.

Take home point:  Be deliberate about how you spend your time.

I challenge you to make three appointments for your physical fitness and three appointments for your mental health this week.

Put them in the calendar.  Honour these appointments as you would any other.  Make time work for you!

Happy Long Weekend,

Rochelle

Monday 12 May 2014

The benefits of a slow start


My husband is a pilot, so I’ve had a chance to hear some flying analogies in the year we have been married.  I thought this one applied well to the world of fitness…

On takeoff, the engines of an airplane work tremendously hard even though the plane really isn’t moving that fast.  If you were to take a snap shot of the airplane just beginning to take off, you might think it may never get airborne.

But once the plane picks up enough speed to leave the ground and climbs to altitude, the engines throttle back and the airplane can cruise comfortably up where it belongs.

We belong in a state of health in our bodies, in our mind and in our spirit.  If we have allowed ourselves to stagnate, it can take a tremendous amount of energy to get going again.  With time and consistent effort, we can make that climb, and the effort to sustain our healthy state won’t be nearly as much when we started and seemed to be making very slow progress.

It’s a process, but ask someone who’s been through it.  Ask them if it was worth it - I’ll bet they’ll say it was.