Finding your WHY..
Knowing your WHY..
Using your WHY as motivation.
The f*ck am I on about.. yep I know that's what you're thinking - right?
Your WHY is your reason. It's an emotionally charged driving force that gives you reason in what you do. Now in terms of fitness, your WHY needs to be something meaningful to you, something you TRULY desire, something that matters so much that not achieving it hurts more than trying and failing. There is absolutely no point in setting a goal to lose weight, or compete, or fit in a wedding dress if it doesn't matter to you. If you are doing it for your partner or for a Facebook photo, if your WHY isn't something that pulls on your heart strings and means ALOT to YOU, there's a high probability that you will either fail, flake out or simply give up. After all, if something doesn’t matter to you, why would you make it a priority? Many people come to Personal Trainers or coaches and have a goal, but they don't know their WHY. When asked what their WHY is, what strikes up some emotion, they often look dumbfounded. Your WHY needs to be important to YOU. Not your partner, not your kids, not your friends, but YOU. If you simply want to look banging naked, or shit hot in a dress to stick it to an ex, there is NOTHING wrong with that. Just like if you want to lose weight to be able to run around with your kids or fit into a wedding dress or maybe come off of blood pressure medication, as long as it is important to you and drives you to want to change, then your WHY is valid.
Bottom line, you NEED to clearly know your WHY.
Which brings me to my WHY - not in a fitness related term per se, but my WHY of why I do what I do. Having spent a large portion of my life as a gymnast, then going through eating disorders there was something I found amongst both those severely underweight and those morbidly obese. They all had:
low self esteem
low self worth
a deep seated hate for their physical appearance
often depressed
often suffering body dysmorphia to an extent
a bad relationship with food
control freaks
often perfectionists
But the biggest factor I noticed amongst ALL people struggling with disordered eating was that their underlying issues had NOTHING to do with food - it was simply an addiction. An addiction that starts out like a friend - comforting, almost positive. When you are sad you eat, happy you eat, angry you eat. In the case of anorexics, controlling food intake and NOT eating is a form of control. As I spent more and more time trying to help myself, the similarities between overeaters and anorexics kept appearing. My views on those severely overweight changed dramatically learning the similarities. Being a chronic bulimic for many years, the ONLY difference between myself and a morbidly obese person was the fact I purged. I looked healthy, I looked normal, but I was far from it. They wear their weight for the world to see - not so easy to hide.
As I got into fitness, I stopped viewing my body as something to hate and punish and started to view it as something to cherish and training as my therapy. I then became a Personal Trainer as I wanted to help people experience the powerful effects of lifestyle changes. I wanted to help people in particular those quite overweight and also competitiors. Both of these are very much a MINDSET thing. The weight is simply a sign of an underlying internal pain with disordered eating. Mindset and self talk have always been my main priority with clients. From losing weight, to going through competition prep, mindset is THE biggest factor in whether someone will get results.
Food is the most abused substance and exercise is the most neglected form of therapy we have available. The single biggest thing holding people back that I have found with coaching / PT / nutrition is AFFORDABILITY. Everyday people simply cannot afford premium services. Don’t get me wrong, some of these trainers have the resources, results, work ethic, education and RIGHT to charge what they do. Many don’t. I was successfully doing just that. However my passion lies with being able to help MORE people on a larger scale and be affordable to more people. This doesn’t mean a lower service, simply more work and smarter work on my end. My WHY is to help more people, be affordable to a larger demographic, focus on mindset and in particular help people overcome disordered eating (*I make no claim to be a psychotherapist*)
One of my favourite quotes that can be applied to all areas of life. From comp prep to work. “It takes a lot of hard work to make something SIMPLE” A lot of work has been done in the process of what seems quite simple.
Find your WHY. In fitness and in work. Wake up with drive and ambition. When you find your true WHY, you will.
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