Personal Development

Live & Let Live. What does that mean? To me, it means live your life as you see fit and let others live theirs.

Unfortunately though in today’s society everyone has an opinion and they usually don’t hold back on sharing theirs whether it’s wanted or not. We’ve all been guilty of it at one time or another in our lives. But what if we could make a conscience effort to keep our opinions to ourselves, what then?

That would mean we could live our lives according to our values and standards without giving them a second thought. Life is for living and that’s exactly what we should doing with them, living them. Not worrying about people who are out of our control. Kind of pointless don’t you think?

I know for myself that if I don’t ask for your opinion then don’t feel you can give me yours, that’s not your right. Oh and if you do then don’t get offended when I set you straight. That always amuses me when people get offended because you tell them thanks but no thanks. I guess they think that they’re opinion is far more superior than mine which says more about them then it does about me. There’s always the one, isn’t there.

So live your life. Live it knowing it’s your life, your values, your standards and more importantly they are your choices to make. No one has control over you, except you of course.

Don’t waste your time worrying about what people may think. Who cares. Focus on the important positive influences in your life and embrace them. Surround yourself with loved ones that make you happy and healthy. Look after number one because if you don’t, no one else will.

Make yourself and your happiness a priority today. Why, because you’re worth it.

I own my fat, do you?

This is a question I’ve only recently been able to answer, yes. To look into the mirror and immediately feel disgust, loathe, shame and self-hate isn’t a healthy mind set by any means. It raises the questions, why do I hate myself because of what I’ve done to myself? What good will come of all this loathing? Is this really how I want to live my life? When will it stop?

These are all questions I’ve thought to myself at one stage of my life or another and I’m guessing I’m not alone in thinking them either. But what’s changed for me now is the way I perceive myself and my body image from a negative to a positive with the help of my hubby. Instead of thinking negative which in turn would result in me eating/drinking emotionally I tried looking at it as a positive. Not an easy task, let me tell you. But one I was willing to try for the sake of myself and my husband. He was extremely worried at how low my self-esteem had gotten whilst he was away and until that point I hadn’t realised just how low is really was.

Think Nigella Lawson. She’s your typical hour glass figure who’s also very voluptuous and curvaceous and there’s nothing wrong with that. So for the interim, that was going to be how I perceived myself and my fat. It is what it is and I can change it over time. I couldn’t change how I looked that very second but I could change how I thought and felt about myself.

This was something that had taken me a very long time to come to terms with, and it wasn’t easy. But with time and change it did get that little bit easier. The key was to never ever give up on myself. Even in my darkest hour I never ever gave up on myself.

Earlier this year I posted about Pleasure vs Pain Part I. So in today’s post I’m going to elaborate even further on it.

These two images are ones I created myself. They’ve also been printed and placed on my pleasure and pain notice boards here in my office at home. The concept came from Tony Robbins and it’s something I’m using to help me with my nutrition goals. Remembering we’re driven by two different forces in life:

1. Our need to avoid pain, and
2. Our desire to gain pleasure.

So for me to avoid pain, I must avoid drinking Kahlua & Milk. I’m an emotional drinker and when I’m stressed and/or depressed, this is what I turn to. Unfortunately though they’re extremely calorie dense which is really bad for me. I would consume more calories than I burned = body fat & cellulite. Then there’s the fact that my lazy liver doesn’t detoxify things properly and it stock piles byproducts from everything I eat and drink. So I must be clinically crazy to drink knowing all this but I did and I paid the ultimate price for it. That’s why this is a pain for me because I must at all costs, avoid it. I’m a visual person so this is why I’ve created this poster and hung it in my office. I see it every single day and it reminds me every single day why I’m not to drink.

Gaining pleasure on the other hand is easier for me. They are things like organic foods, whole foods, foods packed full of essential nutrients with vitamins and minerals that my body needs. These will then ensure I live a very long, happy and healthy lifestyle beyond my years. You are what you eat so that must mean that I’m organic, whole, healthy, seasonal, colourful and delicious. Each week I progressively get better and better at eating this way. Yes it takes work and effort, but my life’s worth it and I won’t settle for second best any longer. Plus after watching the FOOD,inc. documentary I know I’m on the right path for the right reasons.

Nothing in life ever worth having ever came easy and neither did this. But by making small changes week by week I’ve got to where I am now in my life. There’s always room for improvement and that’s what I love about this new journey of mine. Things do only keep on getting better and better.

Do you perform better under pressure? I most certainly do!

I’m not one of those people who can do something just because I should. I’ve tried that method time and time again and always seem to come up short. I need a hell of a lot more incentive than “just because I should”.

Big things motivate me. Things like figure competing and going overseas with work for an extended period of time, like when Duty Calls. So that’s my motivation and inspiration at present. I’m 16 weeks out from leaving and my focus and determination is razor sharp. Like I mentioned yesterday, I’m not waiting until I go away to get fit and strong, I’m making that happen right now. I have bigger plans and goals once I’m there and even more when I get back home to Australia.

It’s been so far so good with everything I’ve implemented. My strategy has changed from what I’ve done previously in the past. It’s now all about strength and fitness. With that, naturally comes weight loss and I’m still maintaining muscle mass. That’s no longer a primary concern though. Being fit, strong and healthy is.

I’m also really enjoying conditioning training of an afternoon with my Training Partner, AKA hubby. Or should I say, flogging sessions. He kicks my butt big time and whips me into shape like nothing else. The last couple of days I’ve been flipping tyres, heaving ropes and even learning how to box by a former boxer. It’s hard, it’s intense, it’s sweaty and I’m usually left gasping for air at the end. But you know what, I absolutely love it! It’s a refreshing change, it’s exciting and I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of doing what needs to be done to get where I want to go.

Thankfully I’m not pulling up to sore after my training thanks to my Musashi supplements. They’ve been my saviour. Otherwise it would make getting up and training every day so much harder.

So for me I now know from trial and error, that I have to dream big if I want to achieve big. And there’s nothing wrong with that.