Fighting For Change

There are countless quotes and theories on change.  When I think of change I think of Charles Darwin, he is known for stating “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”  Many of us are responsive to change but few come out of change on the sunny side.  Change requires a mental shift in how you view life and how you perceive how others view you.  I could go on and on about how inner strength and will power have everything to do with changing, but you already know that.  I knew that this change would not be easy, did I think I would be able to transform in the first 30 days, no, I know it will take time I just have to be responsive to my wins and opportunities and spin them into lessons and then move on to the next 30 days.  When I chose the popular Whole 30 elimination diet to help my transformation, I needed Whole 30 to help shift of how I viewed life and how I wanted to start living my life. Finding a little motivations from compliments from a man, family members noticing physical changes and feeling my body changing helped me along the path but when those brief feelings go away, I am only left with my thoughts of how I see myself otherwise known as my mind and soul and trust me when I say that girl inside me was pissed.  As women we are our toughest critics and I am so awful to myself. I go from one extreme to the next – I love my body, especially on the days I feel great and think my butt looks great in my favorite jeans, and then the extreme opposite sometimes all in the same day -I hate the way my legs, stomach, arms, face, neck look…so on and so forth. Let’s be perfectly honest, we all have a love hate relationship with our bodies and probably always will, otherwise we would not feel ambition to do better, be stronger, stretch longer, lift harder, get faster. I feed off that ambition and, in some ways, I have started feeling my mind and soul catching up that …”yes girl you do look hot in those jeans and yes girl you can do power heated yoga without resting in the middle and yes girl you are living your life” finally is helping my mind & soul respond to my body changing.  Those thoughts that fill my mind and soul are fueling my body to find her ambition to work harder on physicality.  The day I hate my body is the day my body fights back and the day I love my body are the days my mind & soul get to let my body catch up.  I am sure there are scientific reasons for this internal vs. physical battle, but I am not scientist I just know it happens and I want to maximize the power it brings me.  I am looking forward to my next 30-day goal, fueling my body to be fit.  I will be continuing to eat a paleo-based meal plan while boosting my fitness plan. Even though February is a shortened month – I know that with the success of my 1^st 30-day goals I will have no trouble with my next 30 days.  If you think about it – we must get through the next 30 days no matter what, time does not stop, so being responsive to the choice of change is inevitable for me. How are you being responsive to the changes in your life?

“A self that goes on changing is a self that goes on living” -Virginia Woolf