Cliffsnotes for Health and Wellness
Please don’t take these progress pictures at face value, because that’s not what this post is about. No matter how many words a picture is worth, it never tells the whole story. I want to share how important it is to focus on what’s going on under the surface of our physical composure.
I’ve been pretty transparent about my fitness journey over the last few years since I started taking it more seriously. It’s felt like a different lifetime rather than a few years, in my opinion.
Any coach or trainer who wants you to succeed will likely assure you that you need to actively work on changing your habits to align with the changes you want to see in your life. Of course, it’s never an easy or straightforward journey, which is why it’s so helpful to have someone to guide and encourage you.
Knowing you need to make changes is just one step in the journey. Figuring out what the changes are actually going to be is an ongoing process, never-ending if you ask me. I rarely ever see coaching programs that highlight this caveat in the health and wellness community, mostly because I assume it’s not a good marketing tactic. Who wants to invest in a program that never ends?
Well, have you ever read a great book and wished it didn’t have to end? Why not look at the past and future events of your life as chapters in your own novel? The magic of our real-life experiences comes from our ability to actively change our own character arc, our environment, and ultimately our trajectory, even if we aren’t sure of what will happen until we turn the page and keep writing.
So you can see how uncertainty and problem-solving are both parts of what makes a story beautiful and valuable. Let’s practice embracing those qualities in our own stories and see where it takes us.
Here’s a brief summary of the last few chapters of my story for you. I encourage you to think of this analogy as you see others sharing parts of their story as well, and remember that you’re only seeing the equivalent of a paragraph in the cliffs notes of a complex tale of toils and triumph.
2019
redefining the limits I had set for myself, proving I can do anything I set my mind to
2020
realizing my passion for being in touch with my health and using my confidence now as a certified trainer to focus on sustainability and balance to help myself and others
2021
attempting to overcome a lifetime of internalized fatphobia by embracing my present state as a result of everything I've ever accomplished, not boiling down my efforts to a dress size or weight gain
NOW
exercising and eating intuitively, making sure I love myself with each step forward/in a new direction, embracing the opportunities I have to create a balanced lifestyle that meets my personal needs
NEXT
To be continued…