No Distractions No Excuses

Most of my life I have heard again and again the phrase "you can do anything that you put your mind to". I would let it go in one ear and out the other. Those sayings are JUST for Olympic athletes and professional sports stars right? WRONG!

Many of us use excuses to justify why or how we can't accomplish a certain task. For years I have used one excuse after another like many of you out there. I have people in my life that would like to quit smoking. As far as they're concerned, they WANT TO quit smoking. I disagree.

If you really WANT to do something, you DO IT! If you fail at quitting one day, you start again the next, and the next, and the next. Think of any famous inventor in the history of the world. Einstein, Walt Disney, Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton. One thing they all have in common, they never gave up! For every victory, they each had dozens, and maybe hundreds of losses. Which ever addiction you are battling with today can be won. You are on the road to victory, but one thing is true, you must take the first step. You will fall down, you will have struggles.

I hear it all the time "I want to quit". No you don't! You like the idea of what life would be like if you didn't have to answer to your caffeine addiction, or your cigarette addiction. Put that desire for change to work. You may find several ways that things don't work for you until you finally find one way that does.

I have been on my own weight loss journey for over a year now. For about 11 months, I thought I was doing everything right but I was not losing weight. It wasn't until I was talking to my father in law about how much fruit he was eating, and how he was having to adjust his food intake to continue losing weight that I finally realized what my problem was. I was eating fruit smoothies for breakfast and lunch. I was having some veggies, but not nearly enough. All of the work that I was putting myself through was being wasted because I was ingesting so much sugar from the fruit. Since making the adjustment to mostly veggie smoothies about 3 months ago, I have lost 33 pounds and continue losing weight.

The thing about losing weight is it is NOT about losing weight. It is about everything else that comes along with it! The last few days have been amazing because my pants are getting too big. My wedding ring is starting to fall off as well. It is titanium, so I guess when here in a little while I'll get to buy a new wedding band. We went shopping saturday. I really wanted to buy some clothes because mine are starting to fall off me, but I decided to wait a while until I really needed them.

Back to the topic.

I am a stay-at-home parent with 3 boys. 2 of them are 4, the other is 5. I am a videographer, so sometimes I am out on a shoot, but when I am not, I am at home editing videos so that I can book more work. I juggle school, laundry, dishes, lawn mowing, cleaning the house, and everything that comes with raising children. I don't get 8 dedicated hours in a day to get my work done. I get 8 minutes here, 14 minutes there, all interrupted by "Daddy can you wipe my bum" and "Parker bit me". Some days we spend hours at a time in the car, other times we are at home working. My day never ends. That being said, I could use any of that as an excuse. My former fat self would.

 When I look in the mirror I see a fat guy. I don't see myself. I see the symptom of my actions over the last ten+ years. I feel so different inside. I feel strong, like I can overcome anything. Like I can accomplish ANYTHING, because I CAN. And YOU can too.

No matter how busy you are, no matter what your excuses are, don't let your excuses dictate how you
live your life. You have a choice as to how you react. Isaac Newton's law of motion "An object at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by an outside force". You are that object! You don't have to remain at rest. Put a reminder on your phone that repeats every day at the time of day that you are currently making that choice to continue sitting to watch TV. The reminder should read "GET UP AND GET MOVING". If you remember that every day, and you do something to get moving you will see results. Some days I take my kids to the park and kick around a soccer ball. Other times I walk laps around the playground while they play.

Take your youth back, just because you're in your thirties, forties, or fifties doesn't mean you have to feel like it.