Tomorrow a very difficult 3 months begins.....

After wolfing down my mushroom omelette and sipping a glass of red wine. I've got to start focusing on the next three months. I know it's not going to be easy. I mean, no copious amounts of chocolate and ice-cream, no pizza, no pasta, no delicious creamy deserts. Alas I will persevere, not for anyone else, but for myself.

It's difficult taking a before picture of yourself, knowing that you don't like what you see in the mirror and that is your reference to work with is kind of troubling. It doesn't feel like its a blank canvas, more like a horribly distorted and broken canvas that needs to be patch worked back together,

Over the past week I have slowly gotten my ducks in a row. Not easy considering my last blog post was about emotions. I tend to blog about what is happening in my life and relate it to a specific situation or how I think it should be dealt with.

With all the personal difficulty that I will experience in the next while, I feel positive and optimistic because there is an abundance of support out there for me to become the best me (physically and mentally). I have lots to learn about myself, but it's a journey I am excited to take!

Emotions

Our emotions affect every aspect of our lives. From the physical to the mental, the emotions we feel and the way we express them change how we live from day to do.

In terms of physical, the way our emotions affect us are quite easily illustrated in a person who is depressed. Have you ever seen a depressed person (or a person who says they’re depressed) stand tall and confident? Emotions influence our posture, our pain thresholds and even the ability of our muscles to contract optimally.

Our mental being acts similarly to the emotions that we experience on a daily basis. Concentration, reasoning (common sense) and understanding all get blurred by how we feel about a certain situation. Common sense is easily thrown out the window and reason is easily shrouded by hurt, sadness and anger.

The ability to put your emotions aside, especially with training and diet comes easy to some, but very difficult to most. I, for one, am easily influenced by the situations around me and allow my emotions to cloud my judgement and influence my physical. Over time it improves, but it’s difficult to block out emotions completely.

I’ve learned that it’s not always about blocking them out completely, but more about leaving the emotions at the door, especially with training. Pick them up when you leave if you must, but sometimes it takes the little effort of focusing on the task at hand for the things that felt so overwhelming to feel insignificant when you leave.