Feeling Motivated

I have to say, I am feeling motivated! When I started down the path of direct sales, I was seriously skeptical. Can I really do this? Do I want to do this? The answer is definitely - yes! While this is a resounding yes, it does comes with some caveats. I absolutely want to do this, BUT I don't want to be a sales person. I don't want to be the pushy person that makes people feel uncomfortable - that is something I don't want to do and am not willing to do. 

Feelin' Sassy

I am discovering that, like so many things in life, there is a way to do things in a way that works for you that you can feel good about. It might be a slower path than some people take, but it is a path that I am feeling really good about and that makes me excited. It makes me want to face my fears and try new things. It makes me feel like it's possible for me to be one of those people. The ones who are successful. Everyone of the women I look up to that are successful started out where I am today. If they can do it, I can do it. I just have to want it bad enough and work hard enough...and persevere enough to get there too.

I need to remember to direct some of this feel-good energy towards my weight loss as well. It's really easy to get excited about a shiny new thing and lose focus on other things. I've been slacking this week. For some reason my brain is urging me to go for the calorie high score like its a game of Candy Crush. I need to envision the person I want to be and act like she would act. The ideal me eats nutritious meals in reasonable quantities. She works hard and enjoys her runs. She stays focused on the things that are important to her. So that's what I'm going to do.

This is exactly how I felt this morning. She gets me.

I'm on a good track so far today. I woke up crazy tired, but gave myself a little bit of an internal pep talk when my alarm when off. Instead of thinking, "oh my GAWWWDD, I'm so tired. I want to go back to bed." I thought, "ok, I can do this. I'm going to get up and get going and it's going to feel amazing." And it did. I got up and started moving around, knowing my joints would loosen up the more I moved (side note: I have psoriatic arthritis, so I often wake up feeling really stiff). I started walking and after about ten minutes decided to pick it up to a jog and finished out three miles - and it felt awesome!

So here we go folks, let's get with it today and give it our best shot....but there may still need to be some caffeine. I'm motivated, not superhuman. :O)

Best wishes,

~Megan

Fears We Don't Face...

This is one of my all-time favorite quotes. It really resonates with me. It is so easy to avoid things that make us uncomfortable. This can morph into a couple of things. It can then become something you've convinced yourself you can't do - and there's no shame in not doing something you can't do, right? Or it becomes something you convince yourself you don't really want to do anyway.

9 months pregnant

This is true in so many areas of our life. When I was considering staring my home-based business, I thought, "well I'll do the online promotion, but I'm not going to talk to people face to face because I'm not good at that and that's not something I want to do." I also decided that I wasn't going to put any additional money into the business until I made x number of dollars. While I am still going to be incredibly frugal, it is wise to invest a little bit of money on things like business cards, right? I realized that I didn't want to sink any money into this because I was afraid of failure. I was afraid I would look foolish and I would end up wasting our very limited finances on something that would just end up being a huge mistake.

I realized that I was letting fear of failure put me in a very small box of what I was willing to try. I had already drawn a line and created a limit for myself. I was already planning to fail.

Today - 85 pounds (and one baby) lighter

I think this is also really common when you're overweight. It is so easy to avoid things that make you uncomfortable. I would (and sometimes still do) avoid things that put me at the center of attention. You're in a group and someone asks for a volunteer? Nope. Doing something physical in a group of people - like a group fitness class? I'll pass, thanks. When standing in a group, I would try to make myself smaller, to not be noticed for any reason. Eventually I realized that these things I convinced myself I didn't want to do were things I avoided because I felt self-conscious. I was uncomfortable with my size so I became someone who was much less adventurous than I once was - I was much less willing to try new things. I told myself that when I got down to a certain weight, then I would try this or that.

I finally came to the conclusion that people were far less concerned about my weight than I was and that even if someone cared, it didn't matter. Why would I let what other people think control my actions? So when an opportunity comes along and my instinct is to decline, I try to stop and think. Do I want to do this? If not why? Do I legitimately not want to, or do I want to avoid it because it makes me uncomfortable. Every time I do something that makes me uncomfortable it get a little bit easier - and as things get easier, I get more comfortable with myself and maintaining healthy habits gets easier as well.

Here's to hoping it keeps getting easier.

Best wishes,

~Megan