All hard work pays off in the end!

Hey there!

So, I guess that you could call me an instagram-a-holic! I love to browse through progress pictures and all kinds of healthy posts that I can find, they are all very inspiring to me. I also enjoy reading other peoples experiences and what they had to deal with and how they got to the point that they are at now. You know, general things like that I guess. :)

Its extremely inspiring seeing the hard work and effort that people put in, and the incredible transformations that they end up with. Its like a butterfly, breaking free of its cocoon. Its beautiful really. I really hope that everyone is proud of the work that they have done, because if it was easy .. it would be something everyone would do.

The only thing that really makes me nervy, is when I see people trying to do a quick fix. Quick fixes never work or even last, at the end of the day.

I'm going to relate this to these ridiculous wraps that I keep seeing. I guess that the buyers don't seem to realize that the only thing they do, is remove excess water .. which of course you will gain back once you stop using them. Why not just go to the gym? Its a lot cheaper than paying $200 or more for 10 of these silly wraps. At least going to the gym, you will attain lasting results .. but that is also if you change your diet accordingly.

I guess its always easier to look for a quick fix alternative, rather than to put in the hard work to get the desired results. It really irks me. But to each their own I suppose.

The same goes for diet pills. I don't see why people buy them. I also do not understand why the FDA allows them to be marketed. Maybe its just because I work in health care, but I assumed that most people knew that they were not good for your liver. Most of these pills cause lasting liver damage, just the same as alcohol does. This isn't mean to scare anyone, its just something that I thought was generally well known... but if you are taking them, I would recommend that you don't.
Healthy alternatives are always the better alternatives. As I mentioned above, changing your diet and going to the gym is the best way to the the results you want without damaging your organs.

You always feel proud of yourself, when you know that you have worked your tail off for what you have achieved. Its an awesome feeling. In the end, its always hard work that pays off .. not to mention it makes you feel so good about yourself for what you have accomplished.

Never settle for the easy way out .. because that is the route most people opt for. Instead,  take the difficult road. Choosing the difficult road only shows that you have the courage to do, what most will not. It shows that you are willing to stand alone and learn from difficulties that you may face.
You can never learn, if there are no challenges. You can do anything, you can accomplish anything and you can most certainly be anything .. if you just put your mind to it!

Hard work always overshadows quick fixes!

Nothing worth having is ever easily attained!



Thanks for reading,

-Lisa

Learned Helplessness

Hey there,

So I knew that I wanted to write this post, but I suppose I was just unsure of exactly what I wanted to say about it.

Learned helplessness is when a person learns to stop doing things for themselves, because other people will do everything that they need done for them. Now, usually this is something that I see in my job; however I am noticing this more and more in everyday situations.

Now, the whole reason I wanted to talk about this is because if you do not learn to do things for yourself and by yourself you are never going to get very far in life.

To be quite honest, I never liked to do anything on my own. Whether it be going to the grocery store or going to the gym, being alone was just something that I was never comfortable with. I relate that to always constantly being attached to the hip of my old boyfriend. I was constantly with him and never alone, it was something that I was comfortable with and I liked it that way.

As we all know, most things come to an end. Doors close and chapters end. At the end of the day we all move on. If we fail to move on, life keeps going .. as does everyone and everything with it.
There are two choices that you have to make, you either learn to move on and do things for yourself or you fall behind and watch everyone else move on with life, while you sit & wonder why you aren't going anywhere.

Ultimately, we must learn to take care of ourselves because in the end those who we expected would be there just may not be. Take this in regards to even the simplest daily tasks, anywhere from paying your bills all the way up to finishing your education.
I can admit that even I, myself have done this. I dropped out of school. I regret it with every ounce of my being. I was naive enough to believe things that I was told, and that my current career was "good enough" & that I would never have to worry. Well, this is where things take an unexpected turn... I shoulda, coulda, woulda; stayed in school and that is exactly what I would tell myself if I could go back now.

Never give up your dreams because of what someone else says. Never become accustomed to things always being done for you. Never expect that others will always be there for you.

The whole idea here is - is that you should never give up doing things for yourself. Sure its great not having to worry about doing certain things like... cooking your own meals, washing your own laundry and cleaning your own dishes. It may sound silly to some people out there but believe it or not, I see this more often than not in my career.
Just as an example... a client's spouse will pass away. Said client has no idea how to continue on with everyday tasks, like grocery shopping because the spouse did everything that was necessary. Said client's family and care workers begin to do more and more for them as the days/weeks go by. Eventually, they have become so accustomed to this learned helplessness that they no longer even wash their own face... because this is something that you now do for them.
I have unfortunately seen countless situations like this. A person also does not have to be elderly for learned helplessness to take place.

 Maybe I am just rambling now, I honestly can't tell at this minute .. but I'm sure I will edit this later on.

If there is anything that you have learned from this post, I hope that it is to never learn to depend on anyone else except for yourself. At the end of the day, sometimes YOU are the only person that you can count on/depend on.
Nothing in life is ever guaranteed. You should never expect it to be that way. Never settle. Never remain comfortable. What good ever came to anyone who stays in their comfort zone anyways? Only when you step outside of your comfort zone, do you discover new things.

Thanks for reading,

-Lisa

And the story begins...

Hey,

So as well all know all stories, journeys and transformations have some sort of story behind them as to how and why they happened.

I'll start from the beginning.

I was 16 when I met the "love of my life". I know what you are thinking, you don't know anything when you are sixteen. I'll admit, that statement is half true but when you are young you never see things as they really are. Right from the get go, it was just an unhealthy relationship. We argued constantly, issues were never resolved and I was always the one in the wrong .. no matter what. Of course, I never saw any of this until years later once we broke up for good.
I was so tangled up in him and our "perfect" relationship and trying to make it seem like everything was "perfect" between us, that I didn't care much about anyone else, anything else and even myself.
We broke up a few times, dated other people and ended up back together every time. I thought that this was the "sign" that meant we really were meant to be. I thought that he was everything, I thought that he was my world, I thought that one day we would get married... Well, I like many other girls (and even guys) who had ideas like this, thought wrong.
Now, we were together "off and on" for roughly seven years (this includes our break ups, because even though we weren't together we were always still talking & even seeing each other).

There was a period of about 1-2 months, where he was acting very strange and I could never just put my finger on it ... until one day, around thanksgiving he just left me flat out of the blue. I was devastated and heart broken. Everything I had ever hoped for had just crashed and burned. I was never given any sort of reason why he left me, though I have my assumptions and I was never given any closure.

Still months later, he would try to talk to me and attempt to mess with my head .. putting ideas and hopes in my head of things that would never happen. Of course I was gullible and believed he would come back, but nope that never happened.

I had no idea what to do with myself or how to deal with what had happened. I felt as if everyday the pain just became worse. I literally hated waking up every morning, I hated going to work, I hated talking to people and more than anything I hated myself.
I tried to cope with my pain. I just couldn't do it. I turned to excessive drinking. It felt like it was a get away from how I really felt inside. When I was drunk I felt "happy" .. I mean sure, you feel lots of different things when you are under the influence right? I would go out to the bars with friends, drink till I couldn't see .. until I couldn't think .. until everything was all better.
I thought I could just keep going on my drunk escapades and everything would just be fine and dandy, but of course it wasn't. It wasn't until one of my friends called the ambulance on me because I couldn't stop throwing up. Quite honestly, I wished that he had just left me and my house that day. I hated him for calling (apparently I asked him to call, but obviously have no memory of it). I absolutely hated him for it.

My sister and my mom ended up going to the hospital. My sister knew that something was seriously wrong, but my mom still had no clue. I thought that I was great at keeping things hidden. I wasn't.

Now, lets roll back here a minute because this is where the story gets tough.

If you get upset easily, you probably should stop reading right here. If you have certain emotional triggers, you may also want to stop reading now.

If you are interested in the rest, please keep reading.

Before I began any of the excessive drinking, I turned to self harm. It wasn't something that was new to me .. I had done it many times before and to be honest, this is a sad thing to admit .. but its real life, this is about my life. I would self harm because for me feeling physical pain was much easier than emotional pain.
I would sit and cry in the bathroom, just curled in a ball on the floor. When I was alone, that was my safe spot. I would sit, cry and do what "felt better" to me.
Eventually one day, I ended up getting caught. I tried on a pair of boots my sister gave me at Christmas and she kept asking what happened to my leg. I told her nothing and to leave me alone. She knew, she'd seen before.
Frequently, she would barge in on me in the bathroom. I would try to adjust my clothes to hide the marks. My sister caught a glimpse I guess and freaked out on me. I needed help. I knew I was in the wrong. Later, I realized how horribly I had screwed up.
I ruined my body .. and for what? Over some idiot who never cared in the first place?

I eventually realized that this was the end. I knew deep down that I didn't want to die. I also came to the realization that he was not worth hurting myself and he didn't deserve me. I didn't deserve what he did to me. For months later, he did attempt to lead me on that something would happen with us. Once again, they never did.

One day, it finally clicked in my head. What the hell was I doing? I didn't need some guy to love me. I didn't need some guy to feel happy.
I needed to LOVE myself. Something I had never done before. I was never a confident girl. Actually, I was never even a happy girl.

I didn't see it at the time, but him leaving me .. was THE BEST thing that ever happened to me. Though I fumbled around and had a rough time, I found the me that I always wanted to be.

I started caring about myself. It started with changing my diet. I was unhappy with how I looked. I researched various diets, trying to figure out what may be best for me. I went paleo for about 3 or 4 months. I started walking up an almost 400 stair way to the mountain where I lived. I also started going for walks down the path where the stairs were, as well as around my neighbourhood.
Eventually, I started to run down that path. Eventually, I began to sprint up those stairs. I may not have been able to sprint all the way to the top, but I did as much as I could.
After all of this, the pounds started to come off. I couldn't believe how happy I was feeling and FROM EXERCISE, from changing my life style. I couldn't believe that fitness, something I rarely dabbled in made me the happiest I had ever been.

And this is where the happy part in my journey begins!

Not all stories have happy endings. Once you find your "light" - you can find your happy ending. You may not find it right away and it may take a while, but when you find it .. you will definitely know.

YOU ARE WORTH IT! You may not see that, you may not feel that at this moment .. but you must know that YOU ARE WORTH IT. You are worth everything. Before anything else, you must begin to love yourself. That is the place that love begins, within yourself.
Its never too late to start. Its never too late to change. Its never too late to better yourself. Its never too late to try.

If you put your mind to it, you can over come all obstacles. All it takes is a little bit of effort. Keep putting in that effort everyday and eventually, it will become a habit.

A wise man once told me, "What the mind believes, the body can achieve". I don't know where this quote is from, but there is a lot of truth to this quote.

You can do anything, be anything, overcome anything. Do what makes YOU HAPPY. Never lose yourself within someone else, because they may end up not being there for you.

So, today begin with you. Begin with self love. Love yourself. Love the grass. Love the clouds. Love the sun, moon and stars. There are so many things to be happy about and so many things to cherish, every little thing you do will lead you to where you were meant to be.

Stay safe, stay happy, stay humble and love!

Thank you for reading, if you did continue!

From here on out, its all about fitness, health, wellness, happiness and love! :)

Thank you,

Lisa

Welcome! :)

Hey,

Welcome to my blog!

The reason that I have decided to start this blog, is so that I can share my fitness journey, transformation and story with the world!

One of my major goals in life is to inspire others. To inspire others to be the best person that they can possibly be. To inspire others to fall in love with themselves again or even for the first time, because love beings with loving yourself first and foremost. To inspire others to live each and everyday as it was meant to be, full of happiness, love and passion because there is not one single person out there who deserves to feel depressed, sad and alone.

I aspire to inspire. I hope to inspire you!

I would like to share my story with other people out in the world, because other people may learn from my past experiences.

So, I will leave this as my first post and continue on from here!

Thank you for reading!

Lisa