The Decision
Last month I decided to get serious about my health.
I will be turning 50 next summer, and somehow that number really has me thinking about my future more than ever before.
Who do I want to be in my 50's and how do I want to feel in my body?
So, I hired a personal trainer. Something I've only done one other time in my life….about 14 years ago.
It felt uncomfortable and I had thoughts about whether I should be investing my money there.
I had been trying to make my physical health a priority for a while. Several years in fact.
My husband bought me a bike for my birthday a couple summers ago. I've ridden it exactly 4 times since. đ˛đ˛
Yes, I sometimes go on walks….but not on any consistent schedule. Probably not even once a week.
I started thinking about how things stay stagnant and “stuck” when we don't choose to work on changing them.
I thought about my clients who come to me because they've already tried a lot of things to help them move forward from the unnecessary suffering they are feeling after their child's suicide.
I thought about how I tell people “You have to intend and decide to make a change.”
And I decided I was ready to make that change too.
I started with my trainer, Kacie.
Thoughts that Get in the Way
First I noticed how fit she was. And I had a thought “I must look so old and fat.”
Of course that thought felt VERY uncomfortable.
Then I reminded myself that when my clients first start coaching with me, they feel uncomfortable too.
They don't know what coaching is like at first. They aren't sure about how it will be to work through their emotions.
But, I encourage them that this is normal, and they can do it. I've done it…and it's possible for them.
I reminded myself that I can do this and it's possible for my body to change even at the “old” age of 49.
The Before Picture
First, Kacie took before measurements and pictures.
Talk about icky feelings! Then I reminded myself that those were just numbers on a piece of paper and had no meaning until I gave them meaning.
When I start working with my clients we take a “before” assessment.
Where are they now? What is going on in their life that's not working for them? We write it all down as their “before” picture.
I encourage my clients as we get started that I'm going to teach them and show them how they can choose to change the things that are in their “before” picture.
They will get to choose what things they want to work on and change.
Kacie asked me what I wanted to work on and change, and then we got started.
The Resistance to Change
She started me with lots of different types of moves. Some I had done before, others were totally new.
My body was resistant.
It hadn't done this in a long time, and my brain got involved to let me know how out of shape I was.
My client's brains can be resistant too.
They have thought for so long “it's impossible to find happiness again”. Their brain wonders if this process can really help them, even as I'm offering them thoughts and exercises.
I overcome the resistance each time I get up at 6 am and head out into the cold, fall Michigan weather to do a workout with Kacie.
I remind myself how amazing it feels to come home at the end of each training session and hop into the hot shower and feel that I did something today to contribute to my health.
Noticing and Celebrating Change
When we did a 5 week checkin….I was even more amazed to find I had already lost an inch off each thigh and 2 inches around my waist.
Those changes had been incrementally happening all along, and I hadn't really noticed until we looked at the real numbers.
This is what happens with my clients too.
Sometimes I remind them (or they notice it themselves) that they are showing up in a totally different way now in their life even just 4 weeks later….or they've learned how to notice a thought that was undetected before…which changes everything for them.
It's the small, incremental shifts that make the big inch changes in both life coaching and personal training.
It's the pain of getting through the skull crusher triceps exercises (when my muscles are screaming at me) that is actually creating change.
I love the process of transformation for both myself and my clients.
For my clients it's noticing the thoughts and beliefs they have that are creating their painful feelings that is making change incrementally in their life.
It's empowering to see how we get to choose how we live our life, how we show up for it, how we can help ourselves and others.
That is possible for all of us.
It's possible for you too!
I'm a life coach and I'm a personal trainer for your brain….let me show you how you can move forward from loss and live a happy life too.
If you are ready to invest in coaching and want to see how it could work for you, please schedule a call with me here:Â https://rebeccatervo.as.me/
