The fitness competition journey begins! 12 weeks of intensive physical training and cutting out all sugar (no fruit sadly, which I LOVE), dairy, sugar and gluten.
At the end of 2013, I sat down and wrote a list of goals for 2014, which covered things like career, relationships, health, fitness, etc. 2013 was a rather unstable year for me, career-wise. I left a decent job with great colleagues because of toxic managers and totally misaligned values. Resigning was a hard decision to make but one for the best. I'm quite a positive person and always try to see the opportunities/benefits and luckily stumbled upon 2 great, albeit short contracts at another university.
After completing a Master of International & Community Development, Bachelor of Psychology and Cert III in Fitness, I felt like I was "wasting" my studies and HECS fee. Working in what is essentially admin-type roles in education and not putting into practice what I'm passionate about. When delivering 150kg of humanitarian aid I fundraised, it was extremely rewarding to see the excited faces of the indigenous Guarani children in Northern Argentina, where I facilitated health promotion workshops (as part of my postgraduate studies). I would love to work in an area which combines my passion for health and wellbeing with culturally diverse communities, to empower and encourage individuals/groups to take a more proactive role in staying healthy.
I'm extremely passionate about health and wellbeing and have always had a fitness competition on the back burner. I have worked closely with some colleagues and friends over the last 18 months, coaching and mentoring them on nutrition, exercise and lifestyle to optimize health and wellbeing and be sustainable. Not only for them to experience the change but also be active participants and agents of change.
Yoga has been a great source of perspective, inspiration and healing for me over the last 16 years. I was actually joking with my mum about not having a unique, Melbourne-made yoga mat bag and we came up with an idea to design and produce them in the family home 'studio'. Our custom-made collections can be found here:
www.facebook.com/JustAddColourYogaMatBags I also share with clients, groups and the online community, new evidence-based research in the field of superfoods, phytonutrients, supplements and exercise techniques.
www.facebook.com/JustAddColourYogaMatBags I also share with clients, groups and the online community, new evidence-based research in the field of superfoods, phytonutrients, supplements and exercise techniques.
So I decided to write my 2014 goals down on paper, added images, verbalised the goals and visualised what the final outcomes would look like. I met with Ben from Australian Strength Performance and asked him a tonne of questions (a whole list actually). The more I thought about it over the weekend and the more I discussed it with my partner, the more sure I was about going ahead with it. To embark on this career transition (something in the health and wellness industry but not sure what exactly) warrants the achievement of my own personal fitness goal, to have the strength of conviction.
Training started shortly after the meeting with Ben, as we only had 12 weeks until the ANB competition March 29 2014.
Take aways:
1) Set yourself 3 attainable goals for 2014.
2) Own your goals! Discuss with others if you need help with how to achieve them. Ignore the little critical/judgmental/negative voices in your head.
3) Paint vibrant outcomes. Describe the outcomes as vividly as you can, with images and words.
*I'll be posting new blogs weekly. I hope you can share in the journey with me. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback.
