At A Crossroads

Special Guest Post by Melissa Windsor, JQ Fitness

There are so many times in our lives when we find ourselves at a crossroads. Choice A or Choice B (or C or D or E… you get the picture). When I reach these places in my own life I often find myself crippled and paralyzed by fear – fear of the unknown, fear or the know, fear of stepping out and failing, fear or looking like an idiot in front of the people I care about, or even looking like an idiot in front of complete strangers.

So I wait. I sit on the decisions that I know I need to be making because I feel that if I wait, maybe, just maybe, everything will right itself, or solve itself and I wont have to do any growing or changing.

And every time this happens I realize what a completely silly notion that really is.

Life isn’t about sitting around and waiting for the hard things to pass you by, or watching the people around you struggle and then succeed while you look on…

Life is about living, making mistakes, making the right choice sometimes and other times making the completely wrong choice but being able to pick yourself up and move on, stronger (and hopefully wiser) than you were before.

Often the things that I am the most proud of accomplishing are the things that have frightened me the most. Like losing weight, and changing my lifestyle. 

From my vantage point last year, so many things stood in the way of me accomplishing my goals. Everything I saw was a challenge that needed to be overcome and it felt like too much. Eventually though, the fear I felt about how hard it would be & that “what if I fail” question at the back of my mind became less and less important. I realized the only thing holding me back was me; Not my genetic pre-disposition to be overweight like many of my family members, not my family history of heart disease. I was the one doing this. I was eating crap, and treating my body like a trash can rather than a living, breathing, beautiful thing that needed to be nurtured and cared for.

So I stepped out, I took a risk; I changed my diet and started exercising. I felt like crap on some days, but I kept at it. I realized that one bad day didn’t define me, that one bad day wouldn’t ruin my progress, but that many bad days together would.

I learned to have grace for myself.

And through the process I realized that taking the leap is just the beginning.

Maybe today you find yourself facing a similar situation or even a situation that is completely different from mine. The concept is still the same. Don’t let yourself be held back and paralyzed by fear. Embrace that fear, and press through the challenges you find yourself facing. On the other side you’ll discover strength inside of yourself that you’ll be forever grateful for.

You are strong

You are capable

& You can accomplish  the things you set your mind to.

So go out today, and rock it.