Champions keep playing until they get it right.

Champions keep playing until they get it right.
-- Billie Jean King

The quote is simple, just keep trying. One of my favorite instructors at the Y, Michele, has a saying "the success is in the attempt". I firmly believe that with repeated attempts, you will get it right. If the attempt is never made, you never have the opportunity to get it right, so keep on playing! How many times do we tell ourselves that we "can't". If you don't try you will never know, just keep playing until you can.

I'm trying very hard to erase the word "can't" from my vocabulary and replacing it with "I can try". While I may never get it right, I will give my 100% trying.

Adversity cause some men to break; others to break records.
-- William A. Ward


When I saw this quote, I thought I really have no adversities. I have a healthy body, legs and arms that work, eyes that see and ears that hear.

Then I thought adversity does not have to be a physical challenge. It can be an emotional challenge, an eating challenge, a social challenge and the list really goes on. An adversity, to me, is anything that stands in the way of accomplishing a goal.

For me, my first adversity was not taking the time to take care of myself. It was not until I was 198 pounds that I decided enough was enough and I needed to do something for me. I put my son in a stroller and took the time to take a health walk...not a stroll, but a fast paced walk that was for no one else but me and my health. Eventually, the walk turned into a slow jog that actually required me getting a jogging stroller.

From that adversity, I faced a mental one, embarrassment. Yes, embarrassment of joining a gym. I felt like the fat chick surrounded by skinny, sexy girls and muscular men. I knew I needed something more than jogging through the neighborhood and the gym was my next step. I faced my fears and joined...never looking back, never regretting. Showing up each and every day. I found that I have a very strong body that loves to build muscle and all of a sudden I found myself as a lean, sexy girl at the gym who always tried to encourage "the new girl".

Now I was on to another adversity. One I never expected....friends. I was losing weight, changing the way I was eating and they were not. I was faced with comments such as, "you never take the time for us any more", "go on, it's just one brownie", "how could you leave your children in the playroom". I was not getting support from them. Slowly, some came around and even joined the gym with me, while some didn't. I lost some friendships, but I gained a lot of friendships too....most importantly, I gained a friendship with myself, I was beginning to like who I was and who I was becoming.

Still faced with another adversity that I still battle....food. Bad diets, yo-yo dieting, not eating, eating too much, not knowing what is good for me and what is bad for me. I still find food so confusing, but I'm getting better. Once again, with some modifications, the SparkDiet has been such a blessing to me and I feel like soon food will be an adversity I can put behind me. I will not let food break me.

While I may not be breaking any records most would recognize, I am breaking personal records each and everyday. Even if it is just shaving a second off my running time...who would of thought 8 years ago I would be lean and running strong today!