Oh no - surely this couldn't be the case. Is it me, myself, that is actually holding myself back? It never crossed my mind and now that it has I know that I in fact could be the problem. But hey the great news is - then that I am then also the solution. I don't know why now but in the last three months, I have been inundated with messages from women who are struggling. Struggling with their weight, struggling with motherhood, struggling with career and most of all struggling with trying to be it all.
My next line might seem harsh and I will urge you to continue to keep reading so as to get a feel for what I am saying. But we need to get over ourselves and ask "who the hell am I doing this for?" Society demands a lot from us all on a very perception only level. Like we are told we should really look, dress and be a certain way in order to tick those bloody boxes, that in my opinion should be smashed in.
A friend of mine was so incredibly stressed because she was freaking out over arranging a birthday party for her baby who is celebrating turning two. Who was going to be invited? The cake (which was costing €60) presents, an outfit, the list goes on. I am a very practical person and literally remarked how life should be kept as simple as we can for as long as we can. We need to go with the flow more. Why are we suddenly now having events for birthdays and if this is happening at 2 what should we expect for their 12th birthday?! Once the clarity of the actual celebration came back into focus, the celebration of life, the party has been scaled back to tea and a bun for 3! How lovely.
But these pressures are constant, the biggest ones I get queried on is weight and then I try and switch the focus to health and your health. I spoke last week at a business networking event on wellness. The key theme of my talk was that we should be living for health, not for cycles of weight loss and not for summer bodies and shaping up for Christmas. There is a core message that is not being sold to women especially and that is we need and should be living for our own health.
It's time to cut the crap in more ways than one. Vince Lombardi has been for many years a hero of mine. I was so surprised and delighted that many of the things he had achieved and had said made it into my friend's wedding just last week.
"Success is like anything worthwhile. It has a price. You have to pay the price to win and you have to pay the price to get to the point where success is possible. Most important, you must pay the price to stay there." These words to me are powerful and I look at them in terms of health. Health is my success. It's my worthwhile. It has a price. We all need to pay that price and in order to be healthy and look after ourselves we need to ultimately pay that price. Oh it is not always easy, in fact more times then not it is not easy at all. But you know what is great, is knowing you are in great health and you don't have to live your life under the lines "Oh I'll do that when.... I am skinny, when I lose weight, when I feel better in my body"
If you are caught in a cycle of struggle and whatever that struggle may be. Take yourself out of it for even 5 minutes and ask yourself the question, "What would I do here if I wasn't in my own way?" We hold ourselves back because we can be the biggest obstacle in achieving our own goals and perusing what we want to do. The internal dialogue of "I am, not good enough" far outweighs the actual momentary desire to change. Most peoples catalyst for change comes at a time in their lives they least expect it, but you don't have to wait for this aha moment. Simply be the catalyst for your own change and just go for it. Because as my great friend Vince once told the world, "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor."
Take that as you will and get out of your own bloody way.
