Anyone who has a goal. Big or small reaches points where they have to “Trust The Process”. What does that even mean? Is it just something people say to shut people up? Is it really even a thing? What does it mean to you personally?To me this hits home when I start prep and it gets hard. Now each prep I have done, I experience different levels of hard. Some preps things are easy, some preps things are hard. It all depends on how I feel. How I look. What I get for feedback from my coach. Its endless.
Now I am all for trusting the process. Maybe no complaint free. I am human after all. But enjoying the journey? Maybe when I look back I can admit the journey was wonderful and I enjoyed it. But in the moment I am not convinced that I enjoy the journey from day to day. Or hour to hour for that matter.
I am on prep again. It’s my 6th prep so I am not new to this. Or new to the process. But I struggle to trust the process from time to time. I am determined and consistent so I promise you I wont give up. But I think its important to show people that even athletes struggle to trust the process every day or to even enjoy the journey every step of the way.
I recall first getting my fitness level back after my back injury. I couldn’t recognize myself in the mirror. I felt hopeless. I felt uncomfortable in my own skin. I didn’t want people see me at my worst. It was so difficult to motivate myself.
I struggled just getting my shoes on and going to the gym. For real. I had to force myself to just get in the car and drive to the gym and then to get into the gym.
This diagram is perfect. Part of trusting the process is to:
SLOW DOWN
CALM DOWN
DONT WORRY
DONT QUIT
I had to remind myself who I was doing this for. I wasnt just doing this for myself. I was doing it for my kids. They deserved their mom back. I wanted to show them that you can do hard things. I wanted to show them what it meant to love your bodies.
It wasn’t easy. At all but stepping on stage the first time was a testament to me that I did it. I was so proud of myself.
This was the reassurance I needed that I did it. First of all I made it onto my teens IG. Now thats HUGE. But what she wrote touched me so deeply. She understood that I did it for me first.
Now I am sure you are all like, Why would you do a show in that shape. OR post it again for everyone to see. Well we all start somewhere and at this point in time I was so HAPPY with my transformation. I had lots nearly 50# to get on this stage and just had spinal surgery 6 months previous and spent 8 weeks in bed recovering.
Now fast forward nearly two years. I have several shows under my belt and back on prep with an amazing coach. But I am also the leanest I’ve ever been this far out from a show. Yes, I have lots to imporve. I listen to my coach and do what I’m told.
I find its easier for me when I ask my coach more questions. I find when I understand why the cardio changes and why the food changes its a little easier. I am training split days currently but doing cardio 7 days. So the days I dont train with weights I have to still do cardio and its HARD. I loathe cardio. Truly. People who love it are a special breed.
Reality is, I struggle to be positive every step of the way. I LOVE the transformations I get to make and see. But some parts of the process are a struggle to me and I want everyone to know. It’s normal to struggle. It’s normal to hate some things. The difference we need to make is to be happy. To do it anyways. And most importantly that we DONT GIVE UP.