Jun 7 2012

Life Happens

Life happens. When you have a health or fitness goal it would be fabulous if you could just push pause on everything else in your life, but that simply isn’t realistic.

We, as human beings, are social creatures. We have lives with other people involved. We have relationships with others and… well… it can get messy!

Life isn’t going to be put on hold while you strive toward your health and fitness goal.

Your kids are going to get sick. Your boyfriend or girlfriend or husband or wife is going to fight with you. Your parents are going to need some care. Your dog is going to need to go to the vet. Your sister is going to need help moving. Your car is going to break down. Your best friend is going to go through a break up and want you to take them out drinking. You are going to have (at least) a minor injury. Your boss is going to ask you to work late. Your kids are going to need rides because their carpool doesn’t show up. You are going to hit traffic. Something at your house is going to break.

You are going to have health problems, relationship problems, family problems, money problems, business problems, professional problems. Life is going to happen.

I’m not saying to go around with an attitude like the sky is falling, or to give up before you start, or to just throw in the towel because it’s a useless battle. I am saying just the opposite.

Life Happens

Life Happens 

It’s All Temporary

You need to go into an effort to work on a new goal with the understanding that there will be ups and downs. It isn’t going to be a straight line from point A to point B. There are going to be couple of highs and a couple of lows. Maybe more than a couple.

It’s important to remember is that the highs and the lows are temporary. Just because you hit a stride and you’re riding high doesn’t mean that you’re going to be immune to something knocking you down. If something does knock you down, you don’t have to stay down. You can choose to get back up.

If you have the understanding that the highs and lows don’t matter as much as the long term movement in the right direction, you will be less likely to be thrown completely down. When blips happen they will be just that; temporary blips.

Nothing will be able to keep you down for long.

No Excuses

There are times when we all feel as though things are going so well that it must just be meant to be.

You know you’re on the right track because things are going so well and coming so easy. You found your stride. You found a system that works. You must be walking a blessed path. You can feel it.

Then you hit an obstacle.

Too many of us perceive that obstacle as a sign. It must mean we should stop. We’re on the wrong path. We made a wrong decision. It must be life telling us to go back and try again.

We turn that obstacle into a justifiable excuse of why we should give up.

I’m here to challenge that. If you are doing well and things are moving along great, if you’re succeeding… then life throws an obstacle at you, I say it is life’s way of giving you an opportunity to level up.

You are succeeding. You are doing well. You are ready for the next level. You are ready for the next challenge. You are ready for personal growth, personal development and to realize even more of your potential.

Go after that obstacle. Eat it up like it’s candy. Take it on like it’s life’s little way of saying “I believe in you. I have seen what you have done. I know you can do this too.”

My Story

Some of you may have been following my blog for a while, so you may know my own personal struggles.

When I first decided to try competing, I closed my business to really focus on my marriage and my family, which was struggling.

My husband and I decided to separate shortly thereafter. We have still been working on our marriage, but in separate households.

About a month after that my father in law passed away.

The same week, I found a lump in my breast and had quite a cancer scare. First I was told it was cancer, then it wasn’t cancer. I stopped training, had a few biopsies, and even more tests. Now we know it’s a dietary allergy that caused my lymph nodes to swell.

So I removed all gluten, wheat and lactose from my diet. Easier said than done. Believe me. Although I must admit, it makes it easier to give up since the consequence is hives and swollen lymph nodes throughout my body.

Even with all of that happening in a 6 month period, I trained hard, ate well, competed twice and loved it.

Now just a few days before my next competition I was in a hit and run accident.

I was hit from behind on the freeway by what seemed to be a drunk driver going about 100. He rammed into the back of me like he was trying to go right through me. Fortunately, for me, hitting my Expedition was like hitting a brick wall.

He hit another car before he hit me. His car was totaled. He could barely drive it away. Hopefully, hitting my tank of a vehicle actually stopped him from hitting anyone else. I like to think my Expedition is the hero vehicle that saved him from hitting another family with a baby in the back.

So I’m taking it easy and not working out for a few days before this next show. I might not do quite as well, but really the hard work is already done. The preparation for a show happens over a course of months, not in just a few days.

Do you see what I’m saying? It’s a blip. It’s a small drop in the bucket. As long as I keep my eye at the horizon, the smaller stuff doesn’t seem so major. I really want you to adopt this same attitude.

Level Up

Life is going to happen. Run with it.

Only you can stop you from achieving your goals. The obstacles can’t stop you.

You can only be stopped if you choose to let them keep you down. Sometimes the detour may take a month, 6 months, a year, or longer. If you’re still living, you still have time to achieve your goals.

I’m not telling you my story so you will say, “You poor thing.” I am not a poor thing.

I am a woman who has been given several opportunities in a very short period of time to level up.

I leveled up faster than I ever would have otherwise. If things went just peachy all the way through my competition preps, I would not have know what I’m capable of. I wouldn’t feel so accomplished. I wouldn’t have this irreplaceable confidence in myself. I wouldn’t be as hungry for more. How hungry are you?

xoxo ~ Cori

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By Cori Ann Lentz • Life & Love • 5 • Tags: