Step 6 - Success

"Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it." - Maya Angelou

Dang that woman is so right! How could you sum anything up any better? I read this quote and it dawned on me that I don't have to wait until the end to be a success. I am not successful when I am finished with my teaching career and am entering retirement. I am not successful when I have been married 100 years (poor Steven, I know!) And I am not successful when I am finished losing weight and in that perfect sized pair of pants. If that were true, Angelou's quote would say: Success was liking yourself, liking what you did, and liking how you did it. I am successful everyday. 

Especially when I remember the following:

I like myself.

-I am intelligent, witty, helpful, conscientious, empathetic, and beautiful inside and out.

I like what I am doing.

-I am an educator, a role model, a friend, a leader, and a motivator.

I like how I do it.

-I am careful, thorough, punctual, spontaneous, driven, dedicated and fun.

If I only consider myself a success once my goals are achieved, then I am to see myself as a failure along the way? That is such a downer and so un-motivating!  There will always be a day or a week that goes by that I don't do exactly what I need to do as I should do it. Take the past few weeks for example. The thought of a 60 minute cardio session after being at work from 7:30 am - 6:00 pm, was NOT high on my list of "Oh Let's Do It!" Or the week that I only made it 3 times to the gym instead of 5. I am successful. My mind is in it and my heart is in it, but my body is temporarily not in it. I am a success because I still want to do it. I am a success because I am careful of the things I put in to my body and am frequently asked by co-workers what my "Secret Food Diet" is. (I have to laugh as they lean in close to me as if to receive the location of the Holy Grail, and I say, "There is no secret. No trick diet, no trick juice or bar or pill. Just eat clean! And workout a few times a week with a personal trainer...")

 I am a success because even though I have thought about quitting because I am "too tired" or "too busy", I can't. My friends are counting on me, my family is counting on me, my students are counting on me and I am counting on me. To continue being successful. 

And I am...

Step 5

Food, food, food. It is everywhere I look. On tv, in magazines, advertised on the radio or being delicately carried past me in a paper wrapper dripping with grease. It is so easy to look back and realize how food became so important in my life. It is the biggest thing we all have in common. We all need to eat and, hopefully, love to eat. It brings us together in celebrations. It brings us together in times of mourning. We hold meetings over food and food is often used as a motivator at work. It is so hard to "escape" the hold food has on us. 50% of my journey has revolved around new eating and a new thought process about food. Before, it was no problem for me to eat whatever I wanted because I wanted it. I would think, "I had a hard day, I need this [insert unhealthy junk food here]" or "I went for a run, I deserve this..." When in all actuality, I didn't deserve to hurt my body with junk food, or even an overeating frenzy of "good-for-you" food. No one does. It was then that I began to make excuses for myself and justify my overeating. I was in Live To Eat mode. I read Dr. Oz's You on a Diet last summer. I learned more about how my body processed the foods I eat and how to really listen to my insides. I believe the cliche term is get "in tuned" with my body. There was one thought that stood out for me over the past year that I try to remind myself of when I get those desires to make excuses for my eating. 

It goes something to the effect of: You need to change your thinking and relationship with the foods that you eat. Think of food as a medicine. Medicines help our body perform functions that they might have difficulty performing without it. It is a life-saver in some cases. However, in excess that medicine can be really dangerous. We need to make sure we are taking the right amounts and in the right combinations. Like medicine, we need to make sure we are getting the right kinds of food, amount and the right combinations. We also need to remember that we need to Eat to Live, not Live to Eat. 

These thoughts I try to keep with me as often as I can, I am not perfect and I make mistakes, but I don't make excuses anymore. I own up to eating and pledge to keep trying, harder than the next time. Food is fuel, not the focus of my life.

~Kate

Step 4

WOW! What an amazing getaway Steven surprised me with this weekend! He took me to Savannah, GA and I have never seen such a beautiful city before! We went on a carriage ride, toured with a Haunted Pub Crawl, went to the beach, ate incredible food, went on a riverboat cruise and stayed in the most fabulous inn! We were so busy this weekend and it was so worth it! I am so lucky to have a person in my life that is that thoughtful!

While we were vacationing, it was very easy to put exercise to the side. I managed to squeak out a 40 min cardio session on Sunday, I guess it was better than nothing! We tried really hard to make good food choices, with all of the different options, I can't lie, it was hard! I am looking forward to getting back on track this week though. I have a training session today and I am anticipating a tough workout. Hopefully this will be the boost I need to get back in to it. Although the vacation away from it was kind of nice, I know that I can't give up yet. I have to keep going! 

Have a happy day!

Kate

Step 3

Surprises

I used to say that I hated surprises. I always like to know what is going on, when it's going on and where it's going on.  Maybe it was my nosiness or need to be -ahem- in control. 

There are two kinds of surprises I can think of. The kind other people do for you. Like a surprise get together, or a secret present. And then there is the kind of surprise you give to yourself. 

I am so excited because I am the recipient of both surprises this week. Steven is planning a surprise anniversary vacation for me. Which I know nothing about except oak park benches, cookies, wine and cheese, and treadmills with LCD tvs in them. You do the math, but don't tell me! For the first time in a long time I cannot wait to be surprised! My husband is so romantic! 

I also said that I am the recipient of a surprise I gave to myself. Today I had an appointment with my trainer and while I was looking forward to it, I assumed it would be just another workout day with some squats, lunges and jumping jacks. I was wrong! When I finished my warm up and Trainer Mike came over to get me, he walked toward the boxing ring. Immediately I thought, "oh great, step-ups." Then he climbed on to the ring and separated the ropes for me to go through. My hands immediately started sweating and my heart was pounding. What in the world could I do in the boxing ring? I don't hit things or kick things, how would this benefit me? He put the sweaty gloves on my hands and then put the defending pads on his hands and said, "Hit me." Just like that I went to town, 1, 2, uppercut, hook left, hook right, kick, kick. The next thing I knew 30 minutes had passed. It was the best feeling in the world! I couldn't believe I was boxing in the middle of the gym and not caring who, if any one, was staring. I couldn't believe I was boxing period! I was so surprised at how well I did and how much fun I was having!  

Henry Ford said, "One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his greatest surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't"

This makes me wonder how else I can surprise myself and what else I can do! I can't wait to see what other surprises are in store! I am so lucky!

~Kate

P.S. Stay tuned to learn what my surprise is from my incredible husband, I cannot wait to tell you!

Step 2

"You get out of it what you put in!" That's about all Mike says to me as I am pushing, yes pushing, the punching bag across the Bally's floor with sweat in my eyes so much I need goggles. I can feel my pulse in my face and I can barely swallow but still he is saying this thing over and over. I want to tell him to hush and that it's his turn to push the 70 pound bag across the floor with me laying across it but of course I don't. He's right. Don't tell him I said that, but he is. If I put in the time and the eyeball sweat, I am bound to get something out of it. More than an eye infection of course, but the ability to say I just shoved that punching bag back and forth across Bally's 6 times today with half the gym cheering me on with a grin on my face. I know that every step I take with that bag is a step closer to my goals. It's so easy to want to depend on other people or other things to "fix" you or your problems. But what is always right there in front of you is you. Nothing, no one else can do it. You can half it and hope you succeed or you can suck it up and put it all out there. Today I sucked it up a lot. My legs are still burning, 1 hour-post workout, but I know that tomorrow I will get something out of it. Looser pants I hope! But mostly a sense of accomplishment. Today, I left it all on that punching bag. Maybe next time I'll actually get to hit it. 

~Kate

Step 1

I consider my father-in-law to be a wise man, and I consider the advice he gives to be more valuable than gold. He is known for his many, as we call them, Jim Hardy-isms. "Always carry cash in case there is an earthquake and the ATM's aren't working" or "Never let your gas tank get below 1/2 a tank and you will never run out of gas". My favorite however is one that I found myself saying to his son, my husband Steven, after I heard Jim say it. He says it when times are stressful or tasks seem daunting. He says it to encourage us and keep us on the right path. He says, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." I know he wasn't the originator of that quote, but it has so much more meaning coming from family then from Lao-Tzu himself. 

I have recently begun a new journey in the past four weeks. One I have started and stopped many times in the past 5 years, but I am finding myself pushing through and making progress. You see, I haven't been a person who has struggled a lot in my life. I found things came easily because I was patient, and hard-working. "Give up" was never a part of my vocabulary. For the past few years I have made choices that have allowed me to "give up" some things. My passion for dance, my outgoing and free-spirited personality, my confidence and most importantly my health. I made the choices to stop worrying about my health 5 years ago. I thought I was a fairly healthy person and always would be. Food was never out of reach and exercise was a figment of my imagination. I was slowly headed down a path that I would have never let myself go down before. 

But then I hear that Hardy-ism that I often said to Steven and it hit me. I took myself down a 5 year path of unhealthy eating and a disregard for exercise, I can take myself back. It all begins with one step. And so I begin my blog as another step of my 1000 mile journey back to my health, my outgoingness, my free spirit, and my self-confidence. I will use my blog to keep my friends and family updated on my successes and occasional set-backs. I will succeed in this because in addition to 9 pounds, one thing I have lost so far is the ability to say, "I give up." 

Thank you~

Kate