What a difference a year makes.

Last September I weighed 98.5kg, and was an inactive unenthusiastic lump.
If you have been following my blog, you will know that a lot has changed since then.
Only 8 days into this September, and I have achieved a couple of amazing things this month alone. 

First of all, my hubby and I went on a 3 night 'Lifestyle' cruise, a cruise to nowhere out of Brisbane. My first cruise, something I had always wanted to do, and it's now ticked off my bucket list (I plan to go on a longer one now I know I can handle my sea legs). The best thing being, the cruise was free... a competition prize I won.  I prefer to think of it as the Universe rewarding me for making such positive changes in my life.

HERE'S TO MY NEW LIFE

SAILING AWAY

WATCHING BEAUTIFUL SUNSETS WITH MY MAN

Now today I ran in "The Stampede" I signed up months ago, as a challenge to myself, and all these months I was secretly packing myself... until today. Today it was truly excitement, not nerves. 

I decided that any obstacle I encountered I would tackle, and I did, every last one of them, from crawling through mud under barbed wire, jumping over burning logs, climbing over a bus, to running through live electrical wires (yes I willingly got zapped by 10,000 volts - and it hurt!) - and that is to name only a few.

No times, no medals... just downright dirty fun, and my goodness was it ever. I am exhausted now, my feet hurt, and I am still finding mud in my hair, ears, and other bodily crevices, and I can't wait to do it again. 

BEFORE

AFTER

The old me would never have had the courage to do this, would never have believed that I could. If I can make such huge changes in a year, I can only imagine what I can achieve in 2 years, or 5 years,
Anyway, September is here, the Sun has decided that our Spring should be more like a Summer, and we are definitely going to make the most of it.

Next big adventure?...I'm booked in to go abseiling on Sept 29th. 

Comfort Zone

So it is time to dig down into the depths of my soul and turn over a new leaf... and in honour of this month of March, I'll be turning over a new Autumn leaf.

MARCH MANTRA

I can do it

I will push past my barriers

I will step outside my comfort zone

I don't need motivation, I will Just Do It

Comfort / Comfortable ... definition?  Providing physical ease and relaxation. Well physical ease is not going get me to my goal weight, and it's sure as hell not going to help me run in the GCMarathon later in the year.  

Barrier ... obstacle that prevents movement or access. Well there are no actual barriers, only ones I have put up with my own mind.

Motivation...  The general desire or willingness of someone to do something.  I have that desire but I have learned from Michelle Bridges that Motivation in a crock of shit (excuse my language).   Motivation is great when you've got it, but when you haven't, not having it is an easy to use excuse... "i'm just not motivated".  
I have figured it out. It's up to me. There is no magic wand. I either do it or I don't. If I want it, I gotta do it. Simple. 

So ... Going outside my comfort zone means

• Running past the point when it hurts
• Feeling the fear and doing it anyway
• Trying things I have never tried before
• Saying Yes to new opportunities, rather than staying put
• Taking risks and facing my fears
• be adventurous, rather than safe
• Taking on challenges

Without planning it this way, I have already started doing this. Probably a logical by-product of my transforming body, and my transforming mindset (law of attraction), I have recently applied for an internal promotion and I got the job! It means leaving the security of the job I have been doing for 2 years, and am now really comfortable with, to take on a completely different focus.  I know I can do it, but there are certain aspects of the job that are daunting.  It means having to be more vocal at meetings, and dealing with confrontation on occasion (which does scare the crap out of me) but I know I can do it when I have to, so I will. 

Even going to my Zumba class all those months ago was 'uncomfortable' going by myself, but I sucked it up and went, and have met so many wonderful ladies at the class now, and was definitely rewarded for that act of courage.  At tonight's class, when I was on stage shaking it with the instructor for 4 routines, I thought to myself "Can you even believe this! You... on stage... dancing in front of a room full of people! Look how far you have come". Seriously a year ago that was so far out of the realm of possibility of being anywhere near the edge of my comfort zone.

Geez even spilling all in my blog was out of my comfort zone, this whole 12 week challenge was out of my comfort zone, and I have found that once you test those boundaries, and step outside... it doesn't take long for these new things to become comfortable and the comfort zone expands, so you constantly need to be looking for new challenges and goals. 

This weekend coming I will be stepping out of my comfort zone again.

I'm going surfing!  

Our social club is doing a learn to surf lesson, and seeing as I have already paid for it with my $2 a week, I might as well do it.  However I RSVP'd weeks ago, with this thing in my mind that something would come up to stop (save) me... Isabella's surgery, Joe's training... blah blah blah. It was supposed to be last Saturday but it was rained off, so its now on this Sunday and there is not a single reason why I can't do it.

I don't know why I'm scared... Is it water? I don't particularly like waves at the beach, as I feel 'out of control' in the ocean.  Is it because I think I will fail, and look stupid? is it purely because I don't want my workmates to see me in my swimwear? (Gotta say, a lot happier about this now than I would have been 9 months ago).  At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what causes the anxiety, what's important is overcoming it!

Hopefully I will be able to get a pic to post here to prove to you all that I did it! I am actually becoming excited, rather than apprehensive.. and I can't quite believe it. 

12WBT Weigh in tomorrow, so I will post again tomorrow with my stats.

See you then.