Those of you that know me well, know that I have had a very stressful last few months. With my fiancée being off work due to health issues, and I being the mostly sole income for the two of us, I worked A LOT and was just mentally stressed worrying about our lives. Thankfully my babes is back to work and feeling a bit better (I think). I have been what my psychiatrist likes to say "burning the candle at both ends" for far too long. Dealing with my own injury (post tibial tendonosis), his chronic injury, and finances (and seasonal affective disorder), I started to feel like this proverbial candle was a merely flickering.
         After two weeks of feeling under the weather and achy (flu-like muscle aches that made it nearly impossible to even get out of bed) I decided something needs to give.  My brain was foggy, I was missing work, didn't want to go to work, didn't want to work out, and wasn't sleeping (even more so than my regular bad sleep). I cleaned up my diet, and decided that I was going to take some time for ME, to get that sparkle back, to re-ignite the fire.
         I have decided not to take on more clients. To schedule in my workouts, and to give each of my current clients 110% rather than over working myself. I'm taking time off to go visit my family, I'm painting again, exploring my creative side, and reading. I just did my first workout (while reading a novel and some trashy magazines) in a week, and woke up today with no body aches. A huge win. I have been trying to book social events, am working on bringing some clients along as fitness competitors, and have been falling in love with my partner all over again. We are learning to work as a team, and are working together to support each others dreams. Sometimes it takes going through a personal hell to re-discover yourself and admit what you need to work on in your life. I can definitely admit that I need a break. It doesn't mean I'm weak, it doesn't mean I'm not strong enough, to me it means that success will come when you put yourself first.
        I am so excited to be on a journey to compete, and even more excited that I am working with some amazing people and have the honor to have met and discovered wonderful women to be by my side through the journey's that we face in the upcoming year.
2016 is restarting today. Buckle up and come along for the ride!