The Instant Mood Enhancer

While I've been working on improving myself on the inside, I'm also working on improving how I look on the outside. When I started on this recent journey a month ago, I thought the outside would be easier to work on then the inside. I was really surprised to find that it's been easier to work on my daily personal development then it has to keep up with my workouts. Over the course of the past month, I wouldn't let myself lapse or make an excuse to skip a day in reading, listening to personal development or even having a conversation with God. Workouts and even eating well in the last month has been a different story. Eating-wise, my appetite has been up and down. It probably took a good 2 weeks before I really had an appetite, where I felt hungry versus forcing myself to eat because I knew that I needed to. And when I was eating...it was more picking, not making the best choices, and definitely wasn't planning my meals out.

Workouts, well they were even worse. I would come home and be exhausted or sad or make the excuse that it was too late and wouldn't workout. The funny thing is that I know better than that. I know that 9 times out of 10, when I workout, I feel a million times better after the workout then I did before I started. It is seriously my instant mood enhancer/changer. But I just didn't want to do it. I let the fact that I was so sad/depressed takeover my drive to feel better. I'm supposed to be setting an example for others to want to strive to be better and do better and I was doing a horrible job. Then something happened...a little over a week ago, I made the decision that I wasn't going to allow myself to go any deeper down that dark path. I pretty much had a "Come to Jesus"talk with myself. The frustration, pain, sadness and depression weren't going to define me...I wasn't going to let myself give up. So I picked myself back up and did what any normal woman would do in my situation...I went Extreme.

I've had Autumn Calabrese's 21 Day Fix Extreme program since February, but I haven't touched it. When I purchased it in February, I was in the middle of completing Insanity MAX:30 and then I spent 2 weeks in Italy. I came home with a knee injury and was sidelined for several weeks. My excuse for not starting the 21DFX program was that I couldn't just jump right into an extreme workout program after not working out in basically a month. So I did a little here and did a little there, but it wasn't enough. However, I was no longer going to use the excuse that I was out of shape or I couldn't do it. It was time to stop being my own worst enemy and just jump in with both feet. And yeah, this program is not a walk in the park by any means and is about 10 times harder than the original 21 Day Fix, but I'm so glad that I'm doing it. It's only 3 weeks, and within a week I'm already noticing differences. I'm getting stronger, my endurance is building and I've hit my stride again. I'm back to looking forward to my workouts and not considering them a chore.

Don't let anyone tell you (including yourself) that you can't do something. You can accomplish whatever you set your mind to...don't ever forget that.