You know the saying "You don't know what you're missing until you find it." ? I learned the truth in that quote when I realized the power of combining good practices with food, fitness, and faith. When I found a balance with the four components of health: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, I felt a huge difference in my holistic well-being!
Living a healthy lifestyle is a top priority for me, but it is not easy!! Committing to it takes time, patience, dedication, courage, struggles with doubt, and failures. I've experienced overwhelming feelings figuring out what to do and how to do it, It's a continual journey that will keep changing, and I need to change along with it to maintain balance in all parts of my health.
I've learned to keep trying even if I'm overwhelmed, inhaling confidence and exhaling doubt. I can move forward a little bit at a time, and eventually move from caution to cultivating confidence. By confidence, I mean, even if it's something I'm not used to doing, and I may have some fear or doubt about it, I need to do it anyways!!
Confidence isn't about arrogance or self-worth. It's about practicing something over and over until you feel familiar with the skill , place, situation or action. After enough practice and time, we eventually rise up from caution to confidence!
Gaining confidence to move forward happens so often in my life. I'm going to focus here on just three personal scenarios. First up is my fitness. Believe it or not, I didn't like to go to a gym. Walking into an unfamiliar place surrounded by unknown equipment and people was scary and intimidating! After several experiences in trying different gym memberships, I eventually ended up exercising on my own in my home. I would exercise with cardio equipment and light weights until I found some virtual trainers who taught me proper form and varieties of fitness to include in my weekly schedule. Establishing my new fitness routine including cardio, strength, and flexibility training provided many positive results, but it still wasn't enough. My doctor ran many tests on me and eventually concluded that he needed to send me to a nutritionist to help me with my diagnosis of hypoglycemia.
The first few sessions with my nutritionist caused a ton of anxiety for me. Following through on my eating plan was difficult to say the least! Combining the different food groups I needed in the proper amounts took so much time to figure out. Given orders to turn fat into lean muscle to help treat my hypoglycemia meant I needed to find a way to overcome. After many months of gaining confidence in learning my nutrition plan and proper form and variety in fitness, I succeeded in reaching my goal set by my nutritionist and doctor. I felt so good physically and mentally after following an exercise regimen and nutrition plan that I decided I wanted to encourage others to do the same. Going to a gym regularly only happened after I became certified to teach fitness and nutrition. My original caution was turned upside down after I experienced the effects from following good fitness and nutrition practices!
The third situation deals with my spiritual health. Physically and mentally, I was feeling great with my fitness and nutrition plan set, but I was still out of balance and craving something else. It was only when my friend invited me to her church that I realized my spiritual and emotional health were lacking.
Stepping into a new church was fearsome for me! Faced again with an unfamiliar place, people, and situation required courage. The sermon preached that morning was absolutely amazing! I felt like God knew exactly what I needed to hear, and He planned that sermon just for me. God was working on my heart, He was calling me to come closer to Him, and fill my missing piece. I discovered that I have the incredible privilege of dwelling in God's loving presence at all times, confidently. Once I accepted God's invitation to come into my heart and chisel me from the inside out, many positive changes started to happen. Loving, obeying and trusting God for my future plans, gives me great peace, and helps me feel complete. I live now to love God, love others and glorify Him through my experiences.
I've always found "before and after" comparisons fascinating when it comes to transformations. Whether it's a house renovation, a fitness challenge, a diet makeover or a spiritual renewal, there's something about transformation that sparks inspiration and hope! In order for any of my transformations to happen, I had to go through the struggles of hard work! My daily routine includes good nutrition, spiritual practices, variety in fitness, and mental affirmations to create a well rounded balance of health. I will have setbacks and that's ok. As long as I rise up, persevere and remain faithful, all the while inhaling confidence and exhaling doubt!!
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