“Life is not about the destination, it’s about the journey to get there”

How many times have you heard this quote and thought “yeah yeah yeah …I know” but never stopped to respect and appreciate its true meaning.

We get caught up in making dis-empowering statements such as “I want to be leaner”, “I want to be more ripped”, “Why aren’t I as strong as him?” The quickest and most effective way of forgetting all you have accomplished is to have this mindset.

Think about what is unique and special about your personal journey? What have you discovered about yourself that has helped shape the person you are today? What makes you proud?

It could be as simple as the things you do each day…remember that successful people are those who have successful habits

The biggest stand out for me [Coach Tania] since starting my journey is my motivation to get up and do things. The old me, loved sitting around, watching TV, taking afternoon naps and vegging. If I am not working or training, I am doing something. No longer do I want to waste my time sitting around on the couch. I like to get out, go shopping, catch up with friends, go for a walk… there is no longer time to sit around and do nothing and when I do, I feel lethargic and tired. I love fresh air, being outside and being active and busy!! It is a very rare occasion that I sit down on the couch…

….Or the way you see yourself..

For a very long time, my [Coach Dani] one and only reason for exercising was to change the way my body looked; I didn’t train for any other reason than to be thin. And throughout this entire time I loathed exercising and loathed what I saw in the mirror, often pulling apart every aspect of my physical appearance.

With some maturity, confidence, and a better understanding of the true meaning of health and wellness, I have come to appreciate my body for what it can do, rather than what it looks like. I no longer look in the mirror and see ‘Fat’, I look in the mirror and see ‘Strong’. Regardless of what the number on the scale says, the burn I feel and am able to withstand during each and every session is a much better reflection of who I am and the goals that I will achieve. From beginning my health and fitness journey with wanting to change how I look, I have actually changed the way that I look at myself

…and how you feel on the inside….which radiates on the outside…

Since starting on my (Wellness Consultant Carmela) wellness journey of mindfulness and fitness and the following being part of my day which consist of exercise, eating healthier and meditation.
I love exercise more than ever and feel awesome after a workout and paying attention to what I am eating helps work towards my goals and by meditating my mind is at ease…

My life is so different, I have a lot more energy and feel amazing and love shopping now more than ever. My confidence of myself has skyrocketed I love the look of myself in the mirror.

….Or the attitude and approach you take towards making your goals a reality….

When I [Coach Terri] first started my journey I wanted it to just happen. Why was everyone else seeing results and I wasn’t? What was so special about them and why couldn’t I get there? They were so lucky! Or so I thought. I then started reading more personal development books to help me with my mental state as well as my physical being. I realised that success did not just happen, to anyone. It wasn’t luck at all. It was a lot of hard work and dedication, perseverance, consistency and doing things you don’t always want to or have the energy to do. I recently read a quote from someone that said “Eating seven apples on Saturday night instead of one a day isn’t going to get the job done.” How true this is!

So now, I make a list of things I want to achieve each week, a list of tasks for each of those goals and then do something each and every single day that will help me achieve those goals and complete those tasks. I won’t move on to the next thing until my initial stuff is completed, no matter how tempting it might be. I also make sure I do the toughest, hardest, most hated, most boring stuff first. Then reward myself with finishing my day doing the tasks I enjoy the most. End the day on a happy note. But most importantly I now also enjoy the journey as well as the destination and I look back on what I have already achieved and pat myself on the back for those successes.

Though my journey is far from over, and I often look ahead at the huge tasks I face, I do so with a smile. Even if I fall, at least I’m giving it a dam good shot

…Or the simple acknowledgement that YOU ARE on a journey and appreciating how far you have come …..

My [Coach Rach] journey is still going and I am proud of what I have achieved.

When I first began my journey I disliked training, I was extremely shy, i hated vegetables and never ate them and my anxiety was crazy!

I now love training, I’m still shy but my confidence has grown and I talk way too much now, I eat some veggies (still not my favourite) and I’ve learnt to manage my anxiety better.

Overall what I do now but not then, I look at the wonderful things I have achieved rather than all the things I am yet to achieve.

…Or the way we cope with life’s challenges bounce back from hard times….

When I [Coach Theo] first started my journey to better health I believed I was focused on the end result. I knew in my head where I wanted to go and by when I wanted to get there, but I NEVER saw any obstacles that could get in my way. Then came the death of my father. This threw me completely for a six. I lost my focus, I lost my determination and above all I lost the mental fight. It’s this mental fight that is so important in a person’s journey. The mind will always tell the body what to do and how to do it. Prior to my dad’s passing, my mind was telling my body that it had to get fit and healthy. It was telling my body that it had to tone up and build muscle. It was playing such a vital role in my journey. Then came the passing of my dad and that little voice in my head stopped, without warning. As a result my journey also stopped. My weight started to increase and my mood started to change. My family started to suffer, my friends started to suffer and more importantly I STARTED TO SUFFER.

Nothing anybody said was kick-starting that mindset again. I was in a negative spiral and couldn’t see a way out. Then, 3 months later, came a reality check. A little thing called BCA (Body Composition Analysis). Seeing a simple program calculate my metabolic age as 58 kind of hit home. It made me realise that physically I was 30 years younger than my dad was when he passed away, but more importantly, only 20 years younger than he was when he had a massive heart operation. I didn’t want to end up the same way. That was a road I didn’t want to travel, let alone travel it with my family. All of a sudden, it was as if a switch was turned back on. That little voice in my head was back, and this time with a vengeance. It started MAKING me pay attention to where I currently was and how I’ve gotten there, and was determined to reverse the 3 months of negativity. This little voice started helping me to get back to my fitness, to start focusing back on my goals, to start pushing my body to its limits and then just when I feel like I can’t go on, it’s starting to push me for those last few reps in my sets.

That little voice is so important to a person’s journey. It’s the positive thoughts that now influence me and push me to achieve, and it’s the negative thoughts that help me grow as a person. The negative thoughts help me reflect on how people have seen me and this drives me even more to succeed. In the past I would allow all the negativity and bad moments in my life drive me to food and a very unhappy and unhealthy life, but now, I use it as fuel, fuel that burns wild in my mind and heart and drives this body forward to goals. In the past, if I was knocked down, I wouldn’t get back up, but now, TAKE YOUR BEST SHOT WORLD BECAUSE HERE I COME…

Before and after photos, numbers or measurements are wonderful, but will never do justice to accomplishments such as the ones mentioned above. They should be respected, acknowledged and celebrated, because it is these successes that will ultimately dictate how much more success you are capable of achieving.

And remember that the best journeys answer questions that in the beginning you never thought to ask.

Written by Coaches Tania, Dani, Carmela, Terri, Rachel & Theo