Ages, Stages, and Changes
I haven’t written a blog since before covid hit. I’ve wanted too, and then I didn’t want too. I wasn’t sure exactly what to discuss that wasn’t anything to do with the current issues in our world, and would anyone listen if I didn’t discuss these issues. It was and continues to be an area in which I choose to tread lightly. That said, I have finally felt I have “complete” and organized thoughts enough to put into words.
Throughout these past months we have all had ups, downs, spirals out of what we once had know to be our routine. Changes that no one likes or wants to submit to. For me personally I have had plenty of time to “think” outside the box on how to run my business differently, how can I make an impact on people’s lives through a computer, how can I keep my kids on track all day while working from home, and lastly, how to keep my sanity through it all. What I realized is it all came down to what makes m
e internally happy. This “happy” is something only you can give yourself, no one else.
Throughout each decade of our lives we transition, we grow, we learn. The hope is that it is all in a positive way. The changes we are all going through this year will have a direct effect on our future. It is so important to have grace, patience, and kindness even when it is most difficult. What you do today makes a difference in tomorrow.
20s
When I look back at my “younger” self, (the 20’s decade) I see a young woman who thought she knew what she wanted and whom loved fitness. Then, fitness was more selfish than selfless. I was more concerned about “me” and less about “we”. I didn’t get it. Fitness was a way to make me look better in which I thought would make me feel better. Comments from others and opinions of others mattered to me then. I was married, and divorced all within this decade. Lots of life lessons occurring. I also had not found my faith in God at this point in my life.
Enter 30’s
Still loving fitness, still teaching and training individuals how to “get in shape”. Met my now husband of 14 years. Married, and had 2 children in this decade. My husband and I competed in bodybuilding competitions in our 20s and in our 30s. In the beginning of this journey of competing was a focus on how to change my body for aesthetic purposes. Mid 30’s we both started our personal growth journey. Building not only or muscles but our minds. At this point we knew there needed to be more to “looking fit” we were just scratching the surface of what this meant. We were raising children now, something told us that they would be become a direct reflection of us. Thus, we stepped up our personal growth game and started reading motivational books, going to seminars to learn more about the power of positivity and how it really does change your life. We started volunteering to help others. My role as a personal trainer was changing. I wasn’t just teaching someone how to lift properly, but I began planting seeds in their life that would have a positive impact on them at some point. My faith in God perked up as a traumatic incident involving our son had happened and in that instant, I knew there was definitely something bigger than I was and I better get my faith in order.
Age 40
Started an online personal training business in conjunction with training one on one in person. Volunteering became a regular habit just as reading. I started meditating and learning, learning so much more than my 20 year old self could have imagined back then. Faith in God significantly increased, along with reading, meditating. By now these things were not just “habits” they are a part of our life. We competed in one last bodybuilding competition (for me at least). When it was over, I knew I was done with that chapter of my life. Fitness/exercise was definitely more than aesthetics, or how I look in clothes, or what I “thought” I should look like. It wasn’t feeling like I was competing with other people to look a certain way anymore. Fitness/Exercise had become my vehicle to helping others gain confidence in themselves, to believe in themselves and their abilities, for people to view it through my eyes, for them to see themselves as I saw them, which is strong and capable of overcoming the fear they felt that moment.
Hello age 45…and year 2020
Big plans this year! Some of which occurred and currently most being canceled or rescheduled. As I sit here typing this I am moved with many emotions. Decisions for my children’s education had to be made, my business is squeaking by, my husband is furloughed…again. The blessing’s we have together as a family are numerous. All the past learning and growing and learning and growing were done for a reason. We did not know it then but what we were working on then was not only to teach us how to improve on our lives and help 
others, but it was meant to help get us and others though years such as this one. Fitness, I am more passionate than ever! My intentions are completely different than decades ago. At 45 my health goals are to be healthy and strong inside and out. To love and live in each moment, good or bad. To teach my friends, family, children, without health what is there? The beauty of it is that every single one of us can start working on our health at any decade of life you are in. Your perception of what health means will be different, but if you stay consistent, learn that the body is more than just muscle and how it looks, that health comes from within, combine that with a growing faith in God, then my friends you will succeed.
Age 45 the future looks fantastic! I will continue to work on my strength, mental and physical and most of all spiritual. At age 45 it’s no longer about “me” it’s all about “we” and how can we help positively shape another person’s life. At age 45, the scale is a number of what my bones, muscle, organs, blood, and other fluids weigh. Just like 45, the number on the scale does not define me. My strength comes from above, down, inside out. Start loving yourself and what you have to give to others, start believing in something greater and bigger than yourself. Most of all, start valuing your health.
“At the end of the day people will forget what you said, forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel.” (Maya Angelou)
DO THE WORK!