What can you do while your sick and awake for limited amounts of time. Create a vision board of course! haha
My 2017 Vision Board! Do you have one?
These are my goals, dreams, desires and so forth and this doesn't even include all the plans I have with my family or the house! So what is pictured here?
1. I want to run 1/2 marathons again. I feel so very alive and accomplished when I do. 2. Get back to my goal weight of 135. 3. Keep climbing, pushing forward no matter what. Stop getting lazy. 4. Write something daily. 5. Be a better Coach, drink my Shakeology every day. 6. Take more photos :) 7. Continue regaining my strength for lifting at CF. 8. I've 12 new chapters and 365 new chances to improve. 9. Publish my books. 10. Obviously read my Bible. 11. Read many books, write reviews and support fellow authors. 12. Drink COFFEE
...yup, I shall be busy.
...as soon as I get over this sickness I've been hit with...
Sandra Bullock is one of my favorite actresses.
If I know she is in the movie, I’m going to watch it. As I’ve been thinking
about what I want to say to you today this scene from Practical Magic
continually came to mind. Now, it doesn’t show you the part that I continually
thought of, so let me tell you what happens next.
The dead boyfriend’s ashes begin to fall from
the ceiling (his name is Jimmy and they
just banished him from Jillian) and one lady yells, “Let’s Clean HOUSE Ladies!” In this rough scruffy voice, I really
wanted to find a clip with that particular part, because that’s what I keep
hearing in my head over and over that I want to say to you. “Let’s clean house Ladies!”
I also want to point out that at the beginning
of this scene, Sally (Jillian’s sister)
has activated the phone tree and called every WOMAN they know, even those that don’t like them or have talked bad
about them, or have secretly been curious about them and guess what Sally did?
She asked for HELP!
Each woman walked
into that house with a broom, prepared to clean! They had a plan and they had
support, from even those they least expected it of.
Why is this on my mind and what on earth is the
point I’m getting to? What’s on my mind? Positivity. What’s my point?
We need to clean house on theinside. I see you’re still a little bit lost, so
let me explain.
How many times a day do you disrespect
yourself? How many times a day do you look in the mirror or simply think the
following things:
I’m fat.
I’m awkward.
I’m boney.
I look pregnant.
I look sick.
I’ll never get it right.
I’m never going to lose weight.
I’m never going to gain weight.
I’m stupid.
I’m not good enough.
I’m a bad mom.
I’m a bad wife.
I’m a bad friend.
I can’t do it.
I’ll never look that good.
I’m invisible.
My nose is too pointy.
My eyebrows too bushy.
My legs too short.
My feet too big.
How many times have you cried in that dressing
room?
Should I go on and list every insecurity and
lie you’ve told yourself? I'm sure there are YEARS of buildup. Would you say these things to your best friend? Would
you seriously tell her “Your nose is so
pointy I should nickname you Pinocchio”? Of course not! How rude and
disrespectful is that! What kind of friend would you be? So then why on God’s
green earth are you talking to yourself like that!
How does it make you feel when someone says
something disrespectful and rude to you? Like one I heard recently… “Why are you trying to lose weight? No one
will ever notice you.” If someone said that to you, how would it make you
feel?
Angry, Sad, Hurt, deflated, crushed…like you
shouldn’t even bother? Right?
So let me ask this again, WHY are you talking to yourself like that? You are hurting YOU and you don’t even know it! The
mind is a powerful thing! You have probably heard me say and if you haven’t you
will… a lot; “the body will not go where
the mind will not take it.”
If you mind is over there talking smack about
how much you suck and how you’ll never be able to do 10 sit ups, run a 5K or
lift 200 pounds with your legs – then guess what? You won’t. Simple as that.
You already told yourself no. You already told your body that it isn’t strong
enough or good enough. What a crock!
All that constant negative chatter going on
inside our heads is holding us back; it’s keeping us from living the life we
were made for. It makes us miserable, frustrated and depressed and sometimes we
don’t even know it!
We have to be very aware of the way we talk to
ourselves, and don’t tell me you don’t - honey - cause everybody talks to themselves. You
don’t really think I believe that you are just sitting there with an empty head
and nothing running through that beautiful mind of yours, do you? Good, cause I
don’t.
It’s like when you walk into a room to get something;
only once you get there you can’t remember what it was – so you start mumbling
to yourself, “Now, what was it I came in
here for?” Your mind is always running and it can run away with you!
Not too long ago, my Mom and I had a discussion
about cremation. Stop asking if this
thought train just derailed, it didn’t. She wanted to know my thoughts on
it. Well, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it or what my thoughts were on it. I
did some asking. I did some research. And then with my brilliant mind, I made
my own decision. MINE. Not yours,
not hers and not anybody else’s. What I decided was this…
I am a Christian, so obviously I looked to the
Bible for my answer. The Bible from my viewpoint wasn't real clear on this and if it was it would have
bit me on the nose. I am also a creative person. I like to make pretty things
with paper. I like to use my hands.
So, I thought to myself (see already talking to myself); “how would I feel if I worked so hard on this beautiful scrapbook album
and gifted it to someone, only to eventually watch them burn it?” I worked
so hard on it! I put my heart and soul into it and they burned it?!!! I’d be
crushed, devastated!
As a Christian, I believe I am created by God.
I am HIS work of art. There
is not another me. I am the only me there is. God believes me beautiful and wonderfully
made. “I am the apple of God’s eye, a
treasured person.” Psalm 17:8. In other scriptures it says, “I am God’s treasured possession.” I am HIS work of art – how can I burn
his creation?
Furthermore, how can I treat HIS creation the way I do? Have
I no respect?! Talking smack to myself, telling myself those horrible negative
things? Is that really what I think God believes of me? Scripture says
otherwise, doesn’t it?
So Ladies, here is my challenge to you – STOP the negativity! It’s like
mindlessly scrolling Facebook – DRAINING!
As soon as you catch yourself doing it – STOP.
You know that movie Parental Guidance where
they are saying, “use your words” and
anytime you put someone down you have to give them 3 put ups? Every time you
catch yourself - disrespecting yourself – I want you to stop and think of 3
positive things and say them - out loud. Heck! Write them on a post-it and
stick them on your wall! I want to see them!
We’ve got to clean house ladies! We’ve got to
get that dead-beat jerk of Negativity banished! Respect yourself and the
wonderfully made creation that you are enough to stand up to your own negative self-talk.
You are so much more than you believe – so do yourself a favor and get out of
your way!
You have help and you have support even if you
don’t realize it yet. So pick up that broom my friend, and let’s continue on
this journey to an all around healthier lifestyle.
This has been an AWESOME month! I started really monitoring what I was eating and
following the 21 Day Fix eating plan. I’ve been walking. I haven’t done much
more than that.
Over Christmas I realized, this has got to
stop! I’m miserable with myself. I have got to fix this. I would step on the
scale and it wouldn’t move or it would move the wrong direction. The scale was
tipping dangerously close to 175! Thankfully, I didn’t see that number but 174 didn’t
bring me happiness either!
I felt I’d failed myself. I just checked
completely out of life and gained 40 pounds. What the heck? Why did I do that?
Why did I let it get that far before I checked back in? I KNOW BETTER!!!
I did not make New Year’s Resolutions. My
husband was offered a job in Virginia which we are all excited about and
looking forward to the move. So I set a goal; a BIG one. I want to lose 40 pounds and be back in shape so that I
can run ½
marathons again once we move.
On January 6th, 2016, (a Wednesday, not a Monday) I began to
put that goal into action. I had already lost 2.2 pounds – which could have
come back with friends the next day for all I knew and I didn’t want that to
happen. I have been focused and determined. I have had a few treats here and
there but not a day of complete “cheats”
if you know what I mean.
As a matter of fact I can tell you the exact
cheats I’ve had:
Olive Garden & Birthday Cake for my husband’s
birthday.
2 cookies
2 small bowls of bunny tracks ice cream
A bite of pizza
I’ve had no sweet tea, no coffee creamer or
sugared up coffees, no Pepsi. I’ve had water and water and water. I feel I have
been on point and I feel it’s paid off.
As of today I am down a total of 6.8 pounds
since Christmas. 4.6 of those since January 6th, 2016. I’d say it
has been a successful month!
Now, we move into February and my goal is to
lose 7.3 pounds.
Tomorrow, I add in the 21 Day Fix Extreme
workouts and I’m looking forward to another amazing month. I hope you are
hanging in for the journey and I look forward to hearing your successes and
cheering you on! Let’s make it another GREAT
month!
Sincerely,
~Coach Tonya~
Like my Facebook page and share your journey
with me!
So if you've known me for very long - then you know one of my
biggest struggles is CONSISTENCY. I do good for a few weeks, maybe even a month
or so and then all the sudden my streak of CONSISTENCY seems
to evaporate before my very eyes! I wish
I knew why I struggle so strongly with this, but I've no answer. All I know to do is keep trying, each and
every day.
That seems to be the rule of
thumb with just about any endeavor we set out to accomplish. If at first you don't succeed: TRY
AGAIN! Sometimes things may be smooth sailing and others we may feel
as if we are bashing our heads against a brick wall. I pretty much feel like I'm bashing my head
against a brick wall. Sadly, that brick
wall has a name and her name is: TONYA.
Yep, you heard me. The brick wall is me. I am my own worst enemy.
I do great and then I stop. No rhyme or reason why, it just happens. I believe it to be one of my most annoying
traits and it must be, because it annoys me even the ME who is
causing it! Can anybody out there relate
to what I am saying here?
Recently on Facebook I've seen people posting
this thing about "their word".
Now, whether they've been assigned this
word by someone, themselves or God, I know not. However, I'm taking some inspiration from them
and assigning myself a word. Have you
figured out what it is yet? Exactly...CONSISTENCY!
I have got to learn to be CONSISTENT!
I have got to do better at this. How can I succeed at anything if I don't? I have 99 unfinished projects because I lack CONSISTENCY and
I've several more projects planned for this year that will go incomplete
without CONSISTENCY. I need
to lose some weight and get back to where I was happy. The road to happiness is CONSISTENCY.
I am so miserable with myself that I
cannot even explain it. I failed myself BIG
TIME! I was doing so GREAT in
England and then, well I can tell you everything that happened, but honestly
what it boils down to is my CONSISTENCY sunk down to the
bottom of the ocean and I didn't bother to pick it back up quick enough.
Yes, life throws us unexpected curve balls. Yes, we lose people we love and struggle with
grief. Yes, we get depressed and lose
sight of our goals. Yes, we move some
place new and lose our accountability partners. Yes, we fall down... The good news is: WE GET BACK UP.
We have the CHOICE to continue
to be miserable and unhappy with ourselves. We have the CHOICE to get up
and do something about it to make it better. We have the CHOICE to TRY again
and again and again for the rest of our lives. The hang up here is, I can't make the CHOICE for
you and you cannot make it for me. We
have to dig down and find the strength to put forth the effort once more and
that is wholly up to each individual person, no matter how badly another may
wish it for them.
It's like having a
spouse that smokes. You want them to
quit so badly because you want them to be healthier, because you don't want to
lose them too early in life. Forever
isn't long enough. You can't stop them
from smoking, you can't nag it out of them, you can't wish it away...you can't
do anything but pray CONSISTENTLY that they beat the
addiction. That they decide to dig down
and try once more to break the habit that is slowly diminishing their quality
of life.
Now, let's talk about weight
loss. You can't wish it off. There isn't a magic pill to take it away. Your spouse can't nag it off of you. You know those extra pounds are diminishing
your quality of life too, right? The only person that can take it off of you is YOU and
the only way you will succeed is by being CONSISTENT.
So once again I am putting one foot in front
of the other and trying to reach the goals I have for myself. I am so unsure of my ability to be CONSISTENT that
even though I'm writing this blog, I'm not going to share it yet. I want to see just how CONSISTENT I
can be first. I'm going to give it a full month before I publish each post, by then maybe I'll have a little more confidence in my ability and you as my readers will have a little confidence that there just might be something to read, hopefully it's worthy of your visit.
I will know by the end of
the year if I have succeeded with my word. My goal is to write every other day. That's approximately 182 posts by the year's
end. Let's see how well I do, shall
we?
:)
