I am enough: Lessons from Fitness Goals Past

I’m spring cleaning and I came across some Fitness Goals I made about 6 years ago.  What caught my attention was that I achieved EVERY SINGLE ONE of those fitness goals from reaching my desired clothing size, being able to do a pull up, getting to my target weight, and yet nearly 3 years ago I said that wasn’t enough.  I needed to push the envelope even further.

The picture above is when I was maintaining those fitness goals, feeling good, getting stronger, and still it wasn’t enough….

I’m a pretty ambitious person and so when I accomplish one goal, it isn’t long before I’m on the hunt for the next one.  Yet there are times when we need to realize that it’s enough.

So now I’m here 6 years later and would you believe I’m at the same place I was when I wrote those goals down in 2010.  I am pretty sure that had I just continued on with what I was doing after getting to where I was and knowing that was enough then I wouldn’t be in this place but I wouldn’t have the knowledge or message I have now.

I would still be thinking, “If only I could lose another 10 pounds or have a ripped six pack, THEN things would be different.”

Having gone further than I ever thought and yet still not getting to where I want to be taught me that none of this superficial BS matters and my life isn’t going to change or have more meaning if I have ripped abs.

Confessions of a Fitness Model

I’m currently reading a book by Madelyn Moon called:  Confessions of a Fitness Model: the Ugly Truth about the New Standard of Beauty.    Not sure if it’s going to make my recommended reads list yet but I can identify a lot of what she talks about.  I understand about the isolating yourself because you don’t want to be tempted to go off of your meal plan.

I can identify with the self righteousness of posting your meals on Social Media to “INSPIRE” your followers to not make excuses and show what a martyr you are for eating  yet still being hungry.

I even understand about how you may look good on the outside to other people but on the inside you feel like hot garbage and become obsessed with certain foods.

In her book Ms. Moon says the following:

One of the problems was that it was never lean ENOUGH.  Even when I reached my temporary goal, I just made a new one.  My standards were literally impossible to reach.

Looking at those goals from 6  years ago, they were S.M.A.R.T.

Specific Measurable ATTAINABLE REALISTIC  Time Bound

That’s why those goals were sustainable for about 4 years.  Then of course I got caught up and set goals that were a moving target and impossible to reach.  I was never going to be perfect because there is no perfect and basing my life on superficial BS was never going to make me happy.

Lesson Learned.  I get it now and it’s time to tell some other people about it…and I did.

I am Enough

Recently I went to Mercy High School in San Francisco to teach a Boot Camp Class and do a talk for their “Focus on Fitness” during Intercession Week.

I’ve done media literacy classes for young women before but this was before social media really took off.  I am really passionate about teaching young women about how to be vigilant against the messaging they receive from mass media, to not stifle their ambition or try to be like anyone else.  In this age of Idiocracy and Stupidity it seems to be a race to the bottom to see who can drag the standards for young women back down into the bottom of the barrel.

I know young women are looking to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and all these other mediums to compare themselves to photoshopped and filtered images by thinking that if only they could look like this or that, then it would be better.  The marketers capitalize on these comparisons by promising that if you just buy our product to fix yourself, then you’ll be happy.

People in my age group and beyond are susceptible to the advertisements so imagine how you feel as a teenager when your confidence is not at an all time high.

I tried to think about what I would have wanted someone to tell me when I was their age.  High school is a terrible time for self image and self esteem if there is no encouragement and reinforcement for young women.  Without a healthy sense of self esteem and self worth, they will look for validation and affirmation in all of the wrong places.  I told the young ladies that you can get to where you wanted to go and look how you want to look and STILL not be happy or think it’s enough because you don’t believe you’re enough.

When you understand that you are enough, then you understand that you can live your life NOW and not fantasize about “If Only”

Here is a snippet of my Talk: