As we begin another year, we often find ourselves thinking about the year that has just passed. Comprehending how quickly time flies is coupled with the things we wished we had done, the places we wish we could go and the people who are no longer with us. It’s a time for celebration, reflection and for a lot of people wonder whether the new year will bring new found adventure, love, travel, additions to families, new jobs, and if the will be fit and healthy during the year ahead.
When I reflect on my year there have definitely been ups and downs, moments of joy and sadness, moments I wish I could do over again but on the whole 2017 has been another great year. My health is the best it ever has been. Both my physical, mental and emotional health. My body is feeling its best. I am as capable if not more so than I was 10 or 15 years ago.
My priority since I begun this journey to being a personal trainer is my physical, mental and emotional health. The physical health was relatively easy. I just exercise as much as I can. I am a lucky person as I have no major health issues and I am as I said as capable if not more so than I was 10-15 years ago.
My emotional and mental health have been a harder beast to wrangle. The past year I have invested a lot of time and money in getting this area of my life sorted. When I look back at when I was morbidly obese my emotional and mental health were probably at their worst. Slowly over time this has changed but during the last twelve months I have made real changes that have had a major impact on those areas.
I no longer suffer anxiety. The last real anxiety I suffered was probably in July 2017. IT flawed me completely. I spent the weekend in my apartment and did not see a soul. I found I could not face the world. Something that terrified me. What changed for me was I found myself at the fork in the road. I had a choice to make, I could head down the path that I always had and gave myself some temporary relief from the anxiety only to have it come back later down the track or I could take a new path about finding out what was causing the anxiety and addressing it. I did this by educating myself. I did a lot of soul searching and looking at what in my life was causing this level of anxiety and stopped the cycle from recurring.
Taking the new path was just as terrifying if not more frightening than taking the tried and tested path on the anxiety cycle. I had moments of sheer doubt, even a moment when I was sitting on a plane to go to Melbourne where all I wanted to do was get up and get off the plane. You can imagine the security scare I would have caused by doing this. For the record I did fly to Melbourne and it turned out to be a really pivotal moment in my recovery.
Getting my mental health in order has enabled me to work on my emotional health. Now some may argue that they are the same but for me they are not. My emotional health is addressing areas within my life that cause me distress. I made peace with a huge part of my life that no longer serves me any purpose. I have learnt to accept everyone around me for who they are and if their behaviour serves me no purpose, I no longer accept that. It has been hard as there have been people in my life that are on their own path and unfortunately right at this moment we are travelling in different directions. Instead of fighting to keep them in my life I have let them go and I wish them nothing but happiness. When faced with this as an answer to some of my emotional health concerns I was really reluctant to let go but once I could see how much better off I was I found the courage to push forward.
My emotional health is now so much healthier and happier. I found my anger does not get set off so easily I find I am sleeping better, I am improving relationships with so many of my close people (including blood family and those who I have chosen to be my family).
So why am I telling you all this? Because for so many now is the time to draw the line in the sand, you’re at the fork in the road, you’re faced with a choice everyday – will I keep doing what I have always done hoping for a different result or will you change for the betterment of YOU! At the end of the day the only person who really counts! If you don’t look after you who will.
I can’t do that, What about my kids, my partner won’t help me, I don’t have time, My job is my life, I don’t know where to start, I can’t see anything different, I can’t lose weight, I can’t train anymore, my work isn’t flexible and the list can go on and on.
These are just some of the excuses that I have used over the years not to change the status quo and at first it didn’t matter but over time my happiness was lost and then I had no choice but to change.
I see so many people in our society today who are just existing because they are not happy with their lot in life. Yet they also don’t want to change. They think it’s too hard, they use the excuse of the kids, or that it would kill their partner if they were to leave. Well honestly what do you think staying will do in those situations?