So today I am your guest blogger! My name is Molly
Ritterbeck and I blog over at Miss Molly (http://www.mollyritterbeck.com) and I
am so blessed to be writing as a guest today!
What I am going to talk about today is motivation. What
motivates you? Let me tell you about what motivates me!
I am a working mother who has two beautiful daughters and a
husband that serves in the military – that is enough stress in itself isn't it?
Well let me tell you with the bills that come with kids and life in general and
job changes to boot I was getting stressed. My tension headaches, anxiety, and
sore shoulders (my stress goes straight to my shoulders) I just didn't know
what to do. I was also starting to really lose myself in taking care of
everything and everyone else that I was kind of fighting off some
depression. I didn't want to turn to
medicine and I knew if I went to a doctor that is what I would get.
My husband told me I needed to get active and change my diet
– but I was never going to do something because I was told – I needed to do it for
myself. I had friends who went back and forth with new diet fads (meal plans, pills,
prescription pills, etc) and I saw how they aged, fought self confidence
issues, and more. I didn't want to be like that. Being a gymnast for over 8
years I thought I was still in shape despite not doing anything for a long
time….so I decided one day to run a 5K with NO training. Not one of my
brightest moments. I paid for that for a couple days after.
As I was sitting in pain one of the days after I was mad. I
was mad that I couldn't do it. I was mad that Nick finished in 21 minutes and
came back and ran half of it with me again. I didn't need his help to finish. I
didn't want his help to finish ever again. I was going to do this. I started running little by little and
building distance. I found friends to do it with me. I joined a running club.
People were motivating me who didn't even know me. I was not the best but they
didn't care at all. They thought it was awesome to do what I could and so did
I.
I also started to notice the pain in my shoulders was gone,
the anxiety was gone, and the headaches were gone. I had energy and could get
more accomplished in the day. I was happier and was eating better. I was
becoming what I had wanted and it was all because I didn't want to be beaten.
My motivation was to not be beaten.
I only had one moment of doubt and that was when my friends
started to notice that I was losing weight and asked about it. Since I do not
weigh myself very often at all (the gymnast in me swore I would never worry
about a scale again), I had no clue – and I honestly said I didn't think I had
lost much so I couldn't tell them. One of my friends stopped and looked at me
and said “Well what’s the point if you aren't losing weight?” I stopped in my
tracks. Wow – what was the point I thought. The best part is – it only lasted a
moment and I was able to say “The point is I feel better, and I now know I can
do anything I put my mind to.”
I was mad at my friend for asking such a shallow question,
but at the same time I was glad that I could answer her with the right answer
and not a shallow one.
My motivation is myself and my family. It will never be to
get to a number on the scale, but maybe to fit in my jeans better. It will
never be to be in the “in crowd” and be skinny because lets be real – strong is
the new skinny. I will be strong for myself and my family.
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WOW! What awesome words Molly! Thanks so much for guest posting for me! Make sure to visit Molly on her blog!
QOTD: What motivates YOU?
