First things first, happy 4th of July to all the American readers that I are probably too busy watching fireworks to get this wish–but the sentiment is there!

The summary for today: sweaty.

I woke up to a great thunderstorm and had a relaxing morning. I was thinking yoga, but then I thought nope and watched the Today show, finished my laundry, and lazed around instead after breakfast.

I spent my morning at Starbucks–coffee and air conditioning, thank you very much! I had a good conversation about just about everything with a friend I’ve made just from studying there and not ignoring strangers who are willing to distract me from my work. I’m just kidding, but my conversation this morning touched on everything from optimal diet to how endurance training affects your body to how to get people to change to what’s holding me back. Impromptu pep talk/coaching session? I’ll take it.

I also walked away with a bunch of reading to do in the form of this awesome blog, Raw Food SOS. This gal is just an english graduate but she knows her stuff. I like in her about section how she answers the question about why she’s qualified to write about nutrition without formal training:

“I get this question a lot. It speaks volumes about how we view learning, and why we’ve abandoned personal responsibility for using our own brains when it comes to health.“We can’t possibly understand nutrition if we haven’t paid for a degree! Let’s just trust someone with formal credentials instead of thinking for ourselves.”

First of all, if you believe valid education only happens in a classroom setting, I sure hope you aren’t reading this blog on a computer—since both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were college dropouts without any credentials to work with technology. “

Amen to that.

Before I packed up to come home, I threw together a quick lunch.

apple, carrot, cranberry, and sausage with some maple syrup to sweeten things up

Since the humidex is out of this world, I opted for a trainer ride in my friend’s pain cave. I kept it short and sweet (45 minutes in the virtual reality hills) and loved the air conditioning and the fact that I got to watch the tour on the big screen all the while!

virtual reality to the right, the tour to the left

After my sweat session, I did the quickest workout ever at a playground on the way to my mom’s: 5 rounds of 25 sit ups, 15 pushups, and 5 pull ups (jumping, of course).

I threw together a quick caesar salad and salmon dinner using kale instead of romaine (try it — you’ll love it) and satisfied my silly chocolate cravings that sent me picking at the stale candy in my mom’s cupboard with a hershey kiss.

Yes, it’s that simple to satisfy a craving…for now!

And now back to the conversation I had this morning. When I was asked what I want to do (career wise, life purpose wise, etc.), I had no real answer. “I want to help people get healthy.” Great starting point. Not specific enough. When I considered why I’m scared to just launch into this wellness career or to start working as a trainer or fitness professional this fall, I will say “I don’t feel like I’m there yet.” … so “Where’s “there”? And what does “there” look like?” was the next question. Hmmmm…

I think the problem is this — I still don’t feel like I’m living my truth entirely. I’m still digging into foods that don’t really make me feel good. I’m still trying to burn calories with cardio. Every once in a while, I slip (recall my falling forward insight last week?). Yeah, I do all of this a hell of a lot less than I used to, but there are parts of me that hold onto these behaviours that just don’t serve me. And in a roundabout way, it’s ME holding myself back.

“There” is someone who lives their truth, knows their truth, and owns it. I am an honest person, but I need to get real:

• I know what foods make my body feel good. — I need to eat these!
• I know that my exercise habits should make me healthier and thus need to be more balanced. (mobility work? who, me? squats? about that…)
• I know that people already look at me as a fit and healthy role model, it’s just a confidence thing. – This isn’t’ going to change if I can run a sub-whatever race or if I do some epic feat of fitness or have the body of a fitness model (FYI, I don’t want that)…fixing my attitude is an inside job!

And sometimes it’s easier to just say things as general statements so here goes:

• If you need a supplement in your diet, your diet is lacking. Fix your diet. (Sorry vegetarians, I’ve been there.)
• If you don’t like your body, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
• If you aren’t at your happy weight, deal with the reasons you’re not at your best, not with the numbers. Gaining or losing weight is just an outcome of dealing with what’s really wrong — are you eating emotionally? are you restricting to give you a sense of control? — Dive into the real issues and let your weight take care of itself and land where it will–nobody’s body wants to be bigger or smaller than it’s meant to be.
• If you hate your job, make a change. – I’m not stupid–I know we have to pay the bills. A friend posted the quote “Love your job and you’ll never work a day in your life.” and someone commented that she wished “everyone could be so lucky”. Can’t they? Why can’t they? I interpreted the comment as saying “must be nice” but maybe I’m off and this person WASN’T trying to take a shot at someone living their passion? At any rate, the day you decide that you’re stuck and you can’t change is the day that your life ends. Period.
• Set your goals based on things you want, not on what you don’t want. Don’t pledge to give up junk food — pledge to eat good food. My conversation this morning offered these analogies: “Would you get married just to not get divorced?” and “Would you open a business with the goal of avoiding bankruptcy?” …so don’t focus on what you don’t want. Focus on what you do! Don’t want to binge anymore? What if you said you wanted to figure out how to fuel yourself with food and soothe yourself without food?
• If you’re always hurt, your workouts aren’t serving your health. Sure, if you’re an athlete and you want to push your limits, you’re going to dance with injury. If you’re an endurance athlete, you’re putting lots of stress on your body–so decide whether you love it enough to break down your body, AND make sure you take the time to build it up and give it what it needs to come back stronger. But seriously: what are you doing it for?
• If you aren’t sure, admit it. There’s nothing wrong with not knowing–just be willing to learn. There are plenty of things I’m not sure about, but knowing that I’m off school means I’ve got all the time in the world to start learning. And doesn’t that sound stupid: now that I’m not in school, I can learn? Hmmm…but this is a recipe for a whole different post!

..and now that I’m on a roll I’m going to cut this short. It’s time for bootcamp and don’t worry — I’m swapping burpees for water breaks since it’s humid! I hope people don’t shy away from tonight–we’re in the shade and I’m not an idiot trainer.

Andddd this seems fitting:

PS I posted my schedule if you’re around and want to join in. And you know you wanna!

Have you had any of these realizations?
Did I strike a good (or bad?) cord with anyone here?
Have you ever had a conversation that really got you thinking?
How do you swap your workout if it’s uber hot out?