“Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.”  -Elizabeth Taylor

Ooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today was a painful reminder of what happens to the human body when one puts off working out for a while. Sunday was the first time in two weeks that I met with my trainer at the gym. In fact, it was the first time in two weeks I went to the gym at all. That’s too long. The journey is never ending and never easy. There will always be bumps in the road. I hit a few.

As you may have noticed I’ve taken a bit of a break from blogging. After my melt down in my previous post I decided to take a step back and reexamine myself. I’m glad I did. I was letting stress take over my journey and dictate which path I took. I was ashamed of myself for falling back into old habits and blaming circumstances for my meal choices and lack of workouts. Old habits die hard. I needed a boost to get back on track but wasn’t sure where or how to get it.

A trip back home to California was the beginning of getting back on course. Both of my parents are not in the greatest of physical or mental shape. Physically they are both ill, weak, and overall unhealthy. Mentally they are both depressed and rarely leave the house. They are both in their early 70’s and retired. They should be having the time of their lives. But they are not. Their poor life choices have caught up with them.  It terrified me. I don’t want to end up like my parents. I want my retirement years to be filled with health, travel, love and life.

I reviewed my work schedule and I’m currently looking into ways to meet the needs of my job but still have time in each day to make it to the gym,  have time for my projects at home, and spend time with my husband. Basically, I took a breath and relaxed a bit.

Getting back to the gym is my biggest challenge right now but I’m slowly working my schedule to get back on track. Meal prep has become much easier. I purchased food prep trays from Amazon so my lunches are now prepped on Sunday night and ready to grab and go for the week.

Mentally getting back on track was really the toughest part. Getting out of the pity party mode took some doing. I’m so good at telling others to not beat themselves up and let go of bumps in their journey, but really bad at taking my own advice. I finally forgave myself and slowly made my way back to my path.

I have a tattoo on my back. The tattoo consists of a full moon with two crescent moons on the sides. It’s a symbol of the Goddess Hecate. She is the Goddess of patience and understanding of others and OF THE SELF! I got this piece done on my 33rd birthday as a reminder to always try to live up to what Hecate represents. I celebrated my 47th birthday last week and realized I had forgotten my path and what I want to live up to. Patience and understanding of others and of the self. This is now my daily mantra.

We all need to remind ourselves our journeys will be different, difficult, and never ending. We need to accept that we are not, nor will we ever be, perfect. There will be hiccups, bumps, bruises, tears and tantrums. Let’s love ourselves, forgive ourselves, accept our challenges, and push through. I’M BAAAAACK!!

Liz