The time has come to commit myself wholey to the pursuit of exercise and making exercise a priority in my life. Exercise is the easiest way for me to take time for myself and to invest in myself. I have recently pledged to make myself a priority and in the spirit of investing in myself I have decided to take this investment public in two main ways: the first is through this blog and the second is taking on a challenge of 31 days of sweat in July challenge.
I am currently on day 9 of my 31 days of sweat challenge. Inspired by my life coach Betsy Fry who last year completed 365 Days of Sweat (which I cannot even imagine how challenging that would be). Betsy set up the challenge, provides all of the “July Sweaters” who have taken up the challenge with support and encouragement, and she created a Facebook group where we can share our triumphs, frustrations, and new ideas to keep the exercise fresh and fun. I am so grateful to Betsy for posing this opportunity and creating this spectacular community of “July Sweaters”. The Facebook group is incredibly gratitude and pride posted on The phrase most posted on the Facebook group wall is “if I didn’t have this challenge, I would have made up excuses not to get out there and sweat.” It is such a positive community, I am so grateful for that support as I get more and more comfortable with letting my body get the movement, sweat, and challenge it so desperately needs.
My journey these past three months has been mostly working on feeling comfortable in my body just as it is. I know that until I was able to come home to me, just as I am including the flaws, extra weight, and stretchmarks, that I would never be able to invest in myself or understand that I am worth the investment. I am worth the time it takes to get myself healthy, in better shape, and have more energy to live my spectacular life. I realized that I no longer need the “extra weight” to literally cover up who I really am…once I realized this my body started changing. I was then convinced that this work that I have been doing is really helping me.
I still have challenges. I still have bad days where I need to work really hard to pull myself out of negativity and into more positive ground. I still have days where I want to eat everything in the pantry because I don’t think I can handle emotions that come up, where I slip up and go back to old behaviors like binging. I am not perfect and I never will be, but all I can do is be me and that will have to be enough for me and for everyone around me. The best part is, I know it is. I know I am enough of everything and this basic thought and feeling means that I am coming home to me. I love me!
For now it is time. It is time for me do making changes and sweating every day in July sounds like the best thing for me. For now I will go to the gym, I will do exercise DVDs like Zumba and Cardio Core, I will go for hikes, I will swim, and I will succeed!
spectaculareveryday 