SOMETHING SIMPLY SPECIAL SUNDAYS PART TEN

 

Another week gone again, world. Crazy how time flies, isn’t it?! This week has brought us a lot of time at home working hard as our non-stop wedding season kicked off yesterday {Saturday} with A & D’s wedding which featured The Ivy; restaurant of the celebrities.

Today has been mostly relaxing and playing Batman on the Xbox (ah, life’s pleasures) but we also took a trip to our gym for a spot of light swimming.. which brings us in nicely to what I want to discuss with you today.

Exercise.

Yes, readers, you heard me. Before you click off the blog after the thought of “I’ve read all about this time and time again”, just stay with me. You know what I write comes from the heart. I won’t just give you facts and figures and reveal the amazing fact that actually three bars of Mars chocolate a day is good for your heart or some nonsense that these stories usually contain. I don’t even particularly like Mars chocolate so it wouldn’t be a useful fact anyhow.

No, I want to speak with you about YOU being in charge. YOU making the choices in your life.

 

 

Lets begin…..

 

I’ve struggled with my appearance for years, as do the majority of women {if not all, you aren’t fooling us Paris Hilton!} As a child and young teenager I swam, played tennis, badminton and football in the garden. I won medals for throwing things because my arms were strong and my fitness was high. Then came teenage years and with it bowls of pasta watching Trisha when I was meant to be at school {sorry, mum!} and… as we all know… no carbs before marbs! Needless to say I lost my fitness, forgot what exercise meant and fell into a low.

I’ve dropped in and out of gyms at all different prices and all with the THOUGHT process of “I’ll go all the time and I’ll see the figure I want in X amount of time”. Each time though I let my negative thoughts get in the way {“I’ve been going for two weeks and I see no difference… waaah!”} and the memberships were yet again, cancelled.

Then it struck me. In January 2011, I began to make choices for myself and I viewed amazing consequences. I finally began to tap in to the mindset that I create what I chose and realised that it wasn’t about my being worried that the Virgin Active staff thought I was mad or that my trainer would be angry with me for not coming and honestly…I actually didn’t have the right to decide that was a reason for not going still. I acknowledged that I needed to take responsibility for myself. I joined the Pure Gym Edinburgh {cheap and cheerful – see link here for clubs near you – highly recommended for the price} and began to set about in just GOING and not needing a result. I turned it around so that my going was more important than the outcome of my going. That actually I should try to enjoy myself when I was there rather than wait to enjoy in however many months time what I would look like.

You feel like slapping me right? So did I. I bought in to ALL of the rubbish. I didn’t have nice enough clothes or I wasn’t doing the right CV machines or people were looking at me or I wouldn’t lose any weight and it’d be a total waste of money and oh that money could be better spent and I had all the years in the world to re-join. In fact I even started JUST going to the gym to use the free internet in the end because I didn’t get past the door. SLAP. Are you reading this feeling familiar? SLAP to you too!

I’d finally reached a good point. I was feeling great. The more I went, the more I enjoyed going. The more time I spent there, the more I settled in to it. And, without needing to, I was losing the weight. And then it fell apart again. I moved… 450 miles… to London. Where there wasn’t an easily accessible gym, not one that I could afford. Luckily I spent the first couple of months living on soup, yoghurt and granola and quorn chicken pieces so I didn’t add much back on. I remember walking down Wanstead High St in mid July to properly spend time with Gary wearing this black bodycon dress with a zip the whole way down the front that I’d bought in Zara, no tights, black wedges and a small cardi and I felt amazing.

Then came the pasta and the popcorn and my own financial instability rendering me unable to sign up permanently to the gym. All the old excuses came back up again.

And. Then. I had enough. I’ve put on about a stone {approx} and although I don’t pay much attention to weight and more to just whether I’m comfortable with how I look… I MISSED the experience. I knew I could cut out a lot of food and eat healthier and that would take care of it. But… I missed {ew moment} sweating. I missed that rush. I missed stepping out in to cold air and just feeling it hit you. I missed hitting the FASTER button on the running machine and feeling my muscles pull on the weights. More so, I missed that I could make that choice.

So, we made it. I’m incredibly lucky that we’re not far from a well established gym with a pool and multiple courts and classes and that we have the time and stability to be able to sign up permanently, but still…. That decision was made and we won’t look back.

And my DAYS it’s amazing. I just feel happy. I feel happy in the morning knowing we’re going, I feel happy in the car there, I feel happy BEING THERE, I feel happy in the shower before coming home, I feel happy in the car on the way home, I feel happy the entire day knowing I’ve gone and I feel happy in the evening knowing I’m going again the next morning.

Honestly. I won’t start giving you information on why exercise is good for you, we all know why. I will however ADVOCATE that it’s good for me.

I really wanted to highlight this with you today not just because of the exercise aspect to it, but because it was MY CHOICE that got me there. My taking responsibility and through being terrified that it’s too expensive/we can’t go enough/we won’t go/people will look at me/we’ll hate it/it’s a drive we still get up and go.

And, it’s our plan to go every single morning.

What have you been putting off that will just take you one decision to make? That wall you think you have to climb really isn’t that high… you know. Let me know. I’ll be there supporting you!

 

I’ve been reading a lot of Chase Jarvis’ blog this week again after a 7 month break. I really love how involved he and his team get with the social world and how they speak about all different things. Check out his YouTube channel here also which has some great interviews and performances from bands live in his studio in Seattle.

Here are some great links that I noticed:

How To Become A Pro Photographer In 5 Simple Steps

The Next Time You Have A Great Idea

The Hit List: 13 Things Crucial For Success

Ten Things Every Creative Person Must Learn