Wow! Did I really do that? At an age, where let's face it, I am expected to be frumpy, at home looking after my family, not doing anything for myself or whatever else society expects of a woman my age!
Believe it or not this was not something I had been dreaming of doing all my life, I had never heard of these competitions and thought body building was for Arnold Schwarzeneggner !! My life had been littered with heartache, over / under eating, addictions and clinical depression; I had searched and searched for the answers for a happier way of life. Tried every pill / diet / therapist / book / course but my heartache just kept on coming at me.
The events that led to me competing are synchronicity in action and I started down this path for the wrong reasons funnily enough. For vanity, for attention and the motives that represent insecurity and lack of self-love. Here I was trying to be a sexy, bikini model all about aesthetic looks but the journey led me to straight to my heart; to self-love and now it is all about feeling good not looking good!
Here are my top 5 takeaways from this life changing journey:
1. Honor thy temple. A funny thing happens when you start to nourish your body with whole foods, exercise in the right way for your body and get enough sleep. I truly believe that how you care for and treat your body is a direct reflection of how you feel about yourself. As I said I went into this wanting to look good until I realized what it felt like to be physically strong. Your mind can't help but follow when your body is running like a finely tuned Ferrari. Self-love is not just about your heart and soul it is about honoring your physical being too.
2. Get a coach. I have sought counsel from many therapists / counsellors / healers in the past. But for this journey I sort counsel from a different profession; coaches / mentors which typically occurs when you are an athlete. To succeed in the fitness world you need to find out the habits and strategies that others have used to obtain the results you desire. My mentors not only taught me all their tools and tricks, they lifted me higher, kept me accountable, motivated and propelled me forward. It is a new era in self-help, no longer are we looking back & analyzing the past. If you want to be successful at anything in life having different coaches along the way I now see as a necessity.
3. Daily consistent habits. Daily rituals and discipline is the key to success in any field. I would have not have managed to transform this shy, depressed girl into a confident, strut your stuff on stage woman without my daily, not negotiable rituals. And I am not just talking about the diet and training regime I am talking about the tools that I used that I had read and heard about many times. These included; journaling, meditating, affirmations, visualizing, reading, music to name a few!
4. Follow your intuition. This isn't an easy one as we are all influenced by those around us and pressured to conform to what family, friends and society expects of us. But to find fulfilment and the abundance that is within all of us you must listen to the hunches, the inspiration as they come to you. When you are living a life of passion, a life full of honesty and integrity and following all the daily rituals as above this comes more naturally and easily. I appreciate that this can be hard; I lost friends and my family were not exactly mad on the idea of me competing but you have to be true to yourself in order to find yourself.
5. Find your passion in life. How long have you been in a job that you drag yourself to every Monday morning? I did it for 25 years! We all have a purpose in life that will allow us to reach our highest potential while we add value to the lives of those around us. It is not easy to find; it took me 40 years! Just make sure you always find time for the things that you absolutely LOVE doing and think about what sort of job / business is associated with it. It doesn't mean you have to leave the job you are in just start exploring and researching. Put it on your vision board! And engage with the law of attraction and you will be shown the way. Which is exactly what happened to me!
It has been THE most amazing whirlwind journey that has seen me take a completely new path in life in only 18 months. And the most priceless bonus of all is that I have finally found myself, I now get what all those books and therapists were trying to tell me! Self-love and acceptance is the only way to peace, joy and happiness. AND I now get to do the best job in the world! Supporting women to feel awesome about themselves!
Age is no barrier to your dreams!