I would like to share my personal testimony of obstacles that I have & am currently facing in hopes of encouraging those of you who are facing resistence against accomplishing your dreams. I am a real person running into real walls just like you, and feel that the purpose of these obstacles is to grow and help other people in the process; especially as a motivator!
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| Myself & Jay Cutler @ Las Vegas Classics |
Personal Testimony:
I have a formal education in dietetics and personal training. I currently am in the career field of personal training because I love the transformation process and helping to educate, encourage and motivate others throughout. What I do gives me a sense of reward, and allows me to feel that I give back equally or more what I get out.
About 4 years ago, I was diagnosed with thyroid disease after gaining approximately 65 within 4 months. Yep! You heard me... from a slim 132 to 199 within 4 months (I`m 5'7"). Not only did I just graduate with a dietetics degree and was working as a Clinicial Nutritionist, but I also was working as a Personal Trainer. The very beginning of my career and I got fat. Keep in mind my eating habits and exercise did not change.
After many doctors and tests I finally got a doctor to believe that my diet & exercise was not the culprit. He worked for the same regional hospital as I. To keep this short, it took over a year on medication to even see any kind of loss. Once I lost however, 30 pounds came off within 3 months. Of course, this still left me 35 heavier then before! Convinced that something else was wrong, guess what? It was. Another diagnoses and more medication. I was told by those close to me that maybe I`m just getting older and that was going to be the way I'd have to live. I refused and worked as hard as possible to prove that wrong! I knew this could not be possible.
One year later, I felt even worse (though I did not gain back the weight I had lost). So, I decided to go off of all but my thyroid medication and felt whole again. Finally self-healing was taking place through diet and exercise. Now, 4 years later I finally decided that it was time to pursue my dream of competing in NPC Figure Fitness! I hired trainers, started my diet 16 weeks out, and did everything according to the book. I was pleased to see results.... at first.
Week after week my body was not changing as we wanted it to or responding to anything except for a ketogenic diet. That felt like an answer and I was getting leaner! Until I hit a plateau with stress levels through the roof, and 2 hours a day of cardio plus lifting (18-20 hours per week) and dieting on top of a full and hectic work schedule training others. In the gym 24/7. I didn't care what it took, I was bound and determined. My coaches told me I needed to find a way to manage my stress levels better and they were right. Finally, they told me if I didn't see results soon I would not make my goal date of June 9, 2012 and advised me to go back to my doctors. Well, I did and my thyroid was fine. It was determined however, that while I am not a diabetic, my insulin levels were high related to other medical concerns. So, I started medication. Guess what this meant? No more ketogenic diet because of low-blood sugar. I was still determined to overcome this within 6-8 weeks til show time.
I say all of this because this has been my last 4 weeks and really my last 16 weeks and even my last 4 years. Recently, I ended up overtraining and not listening to my body. After being ordered to take a week off, I then got sick because of the rapid changes in my body. It felt like it hated me. I was doing harm and not good. I decided that I would not get myself down, but rather discover every trigger that made me stressed and aggravated along the way. My major problem? Stress! I started to have the "Got To" attitude instead of "Get To". It was no longer loving my health, but that I "got to go to the gym" or I "got to get up early". It felt like the fuel to my flame was dying out. Thankfully, my coaches were amazing enough to counsel me through all of this.
I am happy to say that after 3 weeks of feeling not myself or a little discouraged at times, I did not allow doubt to overtake me! I will not be competing next weekend, even though my family is flying here from out of town specifically for that reason (talk about added pressure)! I remain with my eyes and heart fixated on the goal because I have complete faith in my abilities to overcome with hard work. Not only that, but I have re-discovered my passion ten-fold and once again and am truly enjoying this process. Remember that process is progressional and takes time. Besides, this time I don't have to start from square one, and neither will you the second, third or fourth time around! Every single successful person has failed at something! MJ said "I have failed over and over again, and that is why I succeed".
My coach always tells me not the let anyone OUT WORK me. I have a notecard in my car on my dash that says "I will not let anyone outwork me". That is my daily affirmation. I highly suggest that you start verbalizing and writing down affirmations for your goals. What you put out, you will get back if you have conviction and faith. You cannot be afraid of failure! Failure just shows you how bad you really want something.
But faith goes beyond the end-result because we often have no visible evidence of our dream becoming a reality. We must not view defeat as defeat! Failure is only opportunity to grow and go in to our goal even better then we would have initially. For me, I do not want to get on stage at 70%, I want to be 120% ready and win! Now, I get that opportunity to show-case myself in a better way, and share with others my struggle. I do not feel like a failure because I KNOW my time is coming, others just don't see it yet! That's okay with me. My coach also says "Some of us just have to work harder then others". I`m sure many of you reading this may feel that you're working so hard, and not seeing a big result. Keep working!!! You will see results, but sometimes manifestation takes longer then we hope for. What is YOUR current opportunity in your struggle?
There is always a purpose to our struggles IF we choose to view them that way. We can chose to play a victim or we can be victors and build others up! While I am not yet on stage like I said I would be, I can promise you that when I am within the next few months, all who doubted my abilities will be quiet! While this is not about "doubters" or "haters", you must realize that people will criticize and judge you during your journey. Do not listen to the nay-sayers. They are poison to your ears, mind and heart. This is why it's very important to choose your environment carefully, and sometimes you have to isolate yourself and make that sacrifice in order to acheive something for a greater purpose!
You cannot accomplish any of these things, however, without looking in the mirror. I will never blame anyone else or a medical condition for my short-comings. I believe that health is the absence of disease, and there has to be something else that I can personally do and change to be 100% healthy and disease free! This is my current project, and something that has manifested overtime - likely related to stress. It is SO IMPORTANT to listen to your body, and take care of yourself to the maximum degree. Do not get discouraged by other's opinions. In fact, choose whose opinions you will listen to and void the rest. Educate yourself as much as possible about your goal and the process that it will take to accomplish your goal. The more knowledge you have, the more faith you can affirm because you will be able to develop a plan.
In summary, when faced with defeat you must do the following things:
- View this as an opportunity to shine brighter
- Be honest with yourself about where you messed up in the process
- Ask yourself if you lacked progress or if it just didn't meet your expectations
- Ask yourself if you gave it your all?
- Evaluate your support system. Are they helping or hurting you?
- Re-evaluate WHY you want to achieve this goal. Is it for the right reason?
- Consider, verbalize and plan out your next steps and new game plan. If the first game plan didn't work, choose another approach.
- Finally, remember that the process will be hard work, but should be enjoyable. You will never be completely successful at something you do not enjoy.
When you run in to a wall don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it or work around it. - Michael Jordan
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