Motivation and Mantras

There is no signifance of yesterday as my starting day, but something about yesterday made me wake up and commit to working out. I have a gym membership, I have a dog.... but I never go run or drive up to the gym. I have always made excuses for myself, and the pounds keep adding on... Well, I've decided to put that all behind me and REALLY start doing this.

Last night, my brother and I headed to the gym, did 20 minutes of 1min run/1 min walk... and then worked out chest, shoulders, and arms. Today we plan on doing more running, and doing abs.

I feel like I'm even harder on myself because of my past, being a size 2-3 and weighing 118lbs was when I was at my lowest point on my life which you can read about [here]... All I think about is how easy it used to be to keep so thin but I had done it all the worst way. I'm pretty sure it has wrecked my metabolism because no matter how good I eat, the weight stays the same or adds on.

[Just as a note: I am very happy with myself/who I am, and I understand that I'm not overweight, but I'm over the weight that I'd like to be and also just want to get into a groove of being healthier and running on a regular basis.]

I want to start fresh and acheive this goal of regularly working out and hopefully losing a little weight. With my older brother being in town, I have such great motivation from him. He and I are dedicating Monday through Friday NO EXCEPTIONS to work out for one hour after work.

I really want to stick with this. I am keeping myself on fire and motivated by reading great blog posts like Julie from Peanut Butter Fingers's post about Excersize Mantras which you can read [here]. -- If you ever need motivation to hit the gym you seriously have to read that post!

My favorite Excersize Mantra is:
"I have never regretted a workout."  &
"I am one workout away from a great mood"

I know it may sound silly to those who run all the time or work out and take classes every week.... I just want to get to where you are! I want to live a very healthy lifestyle, and by committing to this running and weight training, I can hopefully not just shed a few pounds, but build muscle and endurance and look healthier as well.

So if you have any story or encouragement of something that REALLY helped you keep on movin'... I would love to hear it!


 
                          ALSO! DONT FORGET!
If you have a facebook - please click this link and "like" my picture. I am in a contest with a local Furniture store here in Austin, Texas and I'm trying to win my mom a beautiful dining set in time for the Holidays. She deserves it :) SO PLEASE VOTE! :) Thanks everyone who has "liked" so far!! We are 100 votes ahead!!!

VOTE HERE

Do Your Best

Yesterday at work, we had a training going over our quota numbers, eating some good lunch, and discussing goals. One of my colleagues had found this video, and I wanted to share it with y'all! Call me sappy it was nearly a tear jerker for me, but it's so motivational.

"How tough are you?? Are you willing to give it your all?"

Whether if it is related to work, your relationships with others, or goals that you've set for yourself that you just haven't gotten around to acheiving, do your best. I will be the first one to say sometimes life can throw curveballs left and right and it seems like just acheiving the smaller goals is tough enough.  

A goal for me has been to move from sales to more of a management or marketing role, so that a lot of the pressure will be taken off my shoulders, and I can take more classes at school to earn my degree and do what I really want to do, nursing. Many times this has fallen along the waistside as many different things in my life have taken it's place, raising a cute puppy, dealing with apartment stuff, and work in itself!

I need to remember what is truly important to me, how grateful I am to be working for a great company that's practically putting me through school, and staying focused on the big picture, and doing my best to succeed.

What is a goal of yours you've been working towards acheiving??

The Helper

Something you may know about me is that I work in the Computer Industry at Dell selling workstations and servers to small and medium businesses around the US. Something you may NOT know is that I am working my way through college to become a Registured Nurse.


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 Ever since I was little, I've been a helper. I always tried to play "mom" and help my little brother when I was a kid and raise my baby sister. With friends, I was always the listener and loved to be there for them. I'm sure a lot/most of you can say you've been the same growing up, putting others before you and just thriving off of others being happy. That's what makes me happy.

I found out I wanted to be a nurse early on when I was babysitting. I know it sounds crazy, but there was an experience that really stood out to me, and ever since then I've always felt like helping others was my calling from God.


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I was about 13 years old, babysitting my next door neighbors two kids who were about 2 and 5 yrs old. They had two dogs, and their grandmother lived upstairs, but was older and wasn't able to watch the kids while the parents went out at night. So we did crafts, and all the fun things babysitters do - watch silly TV shows etc.

Well, one day the dogs were running around and their grandmother was trying to make it down the stairs. We were in the kitchen for snacks, and I heard a huge crash. I ran over immediately to see what was going on, and sure enough their grandmother fell when the dogs rushed past her on the stairs. She was sitting there on the ground holding her arm that had a major cut in it, one that most people's stomach would hurt to see. 



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 As my heart practically dropped, I didn't think twice and got the kids into another room so they wouldn't see her, and grabbed a damp towel to place on her arm and put pressure on it. I helped their grandmother up and sat her down on the chair, and called 911 & the parents. They came quickly and took her to the hospital. As the kids were freaking out and upset about their grandma, we sat down and made get well cards and decorated them, and it kept them busy for the few hours their parents were gone at the hospital with their grandma. 


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 It may sound silly, but I knew from then I wanted to be the nurse that got to take care of her. I want to make everyone happy and feel better. I feel like I have a gift to care for others and calm people. I am the mediator in my wide range of siblings as the middle child, and I love it that way. 

 It's memories like these, and being able to be that listener and that helper of my friends and family that keeps me encouraged to continue this RN degree and become that special person others can count on to help and be there for them. It's in my nature, and I love it! 

Today, I want to encourage everyone to take that extra few minutes to help someone out with something, even if it's something small. Maybe call up your siblings or parents and tell them you're thinking about them, or if they're having an issue with something, be a listener for them. :)   


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Today I am linking up with two beautiful ladies, Mrs. T from Mrs. T, Naturally, and Jami from Call Me Blessed.

 

Prayer and Encouragement

 Today is the perfect day to be linking up with Jami (and Aly today) over at Call Me Blessed for "We Encourage" Tuesday.

*If I can request from all my blogfriends who are reading this today, a prayer for my Uncle and his newlywed wife, who are 18 weeks pregnant. Last night her water broke and she is less than halfway through her pregnancy. It hurts my heart so much to even think about how scared they are and what they must be going through. The next 72 hours is critical. I really appreciate y'all and love you.*

This morning I was listening to one of my favorite Christian songs,  "Mighty to Save" as I listen to Christian radio every morning to and from work to gain my energy and motivation for the day... Does anyone else start singing to choke up in the middle of singing a song you truly love and feel every word?

Here are some encouraging phrases, verses, and quotes for today:

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In hard times, what encourages you???

Be sure to check out Jami's page as many people linked up today for WeEncourage!

Encouragement Tuesday: Blog-world Bible Study

A few weeks ago I was tweeting along, and befriended Callie (@AthleteWannabe) who blogs over at The Wannabe Athlete. Callie had this amazing idea to have a blogger bible study where we all read the same book and do reviews and talk about it whether it's through a twitter chat or FB. 


After sending out a simple question of who would be interested - not a few hours later and 22 women had already signed up. This is such a great idea! I have weird hours at work and am not always able to make it to Church, and I could always use more prayer in my life. Now there are 31 women, we've all said a little something about ourselves and we use the FB page to leave encouraging words or verses we love on here, and to be honest - on a bad day at work it really helps to have a huge bubble of friends who have nothing but positive and faithful words. 

We chose to do the book, Esther: It's Tough Being A Woman. 

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This is a Beth Moore group Bible Study that has been a favorite of many bible studies and women everywhere around the country. I haven't deep dived into the book or anything yet, as our Bible Study won't start for another few days at least... but I encourage you to join if you haven't already! If you want to comment with your email address I'll send you the email that I first got, and also on this post the links will take you to the FB page where we usually talk with each other the most. I hope some of you join!!


I have to admit I've never really done an in depth Bible Study with books, so this will be new for me. I'm excited!! hehe


Today I'm linking up with Jami at Call Me Blessed, for WeEncourage Tuesdays :) Stop by her page and check out other bloggers and their encouraging words!