I’m done complaining. As of last night, I’m not complaining anymore.
Don’t get me wrong, I think of myself as a very positive person but it’s so easy for me to complain about my workload, personal stressors, family dynamics, aches & pains, etc.
But here’s what I was thinking…
It sucks to listen to people complain. It’s boring. It’s pointless. I’ve been one of the people complaining and one of the people listening to others complain. It sucks.
But, on top of being annoying & not interesting, it doesn’t make me happy.
I want to be happy. I can choose to be happy regardless of what is going on in my day or life.
While I drove home last night, I was listening to a podcast that told a story of a woman who declared she was making a radical choice: I choose to be happy.
It really struck me. I choose to be happy, too.
So, I’m done complaining. There’s way more in my life that I can be grateful about than there are things to complain about. And complaining doesn’t solve problems.
I had lots of chances to practice not complaining this morning. In fact, I left myself a note last night in case I forgot about my decision this morning.
“I choose to be happy. I choose to stop complaining”
When I got to the gym about a dozen people commented to me, “Whoa, you’ve got quite a sunburn!!”
I could have easily started complaining about the burn and the fact that sunburn + mosquito bites is a special kind of hell. Sunburn + mosquito bites + a workout that requires tossing around a burlap sandbag = a much darker hell.
Instead, I chose to smile and say “I earned it while enjoying a gorgeous day biking around Martha’s Vineyard.” True story. And a much more pleasant one than bitching about my sunburn and bug bites.
Bitching about the burn & the bites doesn’t make them feel better. It only makes me notice them more and therefore feel more uncomfortable. No thanks. I choose to be happy.
How lucky am I that I got to spend the weekend on Cape Cod, enjoy a party around a fire pit on Saturday night and a day biking around an island on Sunday? There is NOTHING to complain about.
I had opportunities to practice not complaining even before I left for the gym.
I wake up between 4:30 and 5am daily and I usually get to a certain point in my work before leaving for the gym at 6:50am. Today, however, I didn’t get as far in my work as I normally do.
As I noticed a complaining thought arising, I decided against it. It doesn’t make me happy to focus on how much work there is to do as though it’s a burden.Truthfully, I’m lucky to have work.Having a lot of clients is a BLESSING, not a burden. Not even a little. And, it’s early. There’s plenty of day ahead for me to get my work done. For now, I’m grateful for the break to workout.
Does this mean I won’t complain in the next 30 days? No. I’m sure I will. But just in the first 12 hours I’ve been more mindful and that’s progress in itself.
I choose to be happy.
My life reflects my thoughts, words & actions and I choose to be happy. I choose to not complain.
That workout I mentioned? It was a doozy. I feel a great sense of accomplishment with it behind me. That rough sandbag against my sunburn over and over and over was a great reminder to use sun protection next time!!
“Air Bags”
AMRAP 25
Teams of 3:*
10 Wreck Bag Zercher Reverse Lunges (5/side), 70/50
10 Alternating Wreck Bag Shoulders, 70/50
20 Lateral 2-foot Wreck Bag Hops (1 jump = 1 rep)
200m Run
*Relay style, Athlete 2 can start once athlete 1 leaves for the run
The workout gave me so many chances to practice not complaining. I was tired on the first round but I chose to focus on the fitness I was improving with each step & rep.
On the food front:
I had a couple cups of cold brew coffee before my workout and another one afterwards. Around 11am I took a break from work to enjoy a cobb salad.
At 2:30 I had this week’s Paleo Power Meals special – shrimp scampi over cauliflower rice. It was so tasty.
When I can, I prefer to have dinner early so at 5:30pm I had some grilled chicken & a smoothie made with cacao powder, frozen cauliflower & strawberries. It was really, really tasty & a yummy way to incorporate carbs at night!
Make it a great day, guys!
PS: If you choose to give Paleo Power Meals a try, be sure to use the coupon code ebprimal20 to save 20% on your first order!
This has been a hard week. My schedule has been crazy. I am undoubtedly stressed, tired and a bit oversensitive as a result. I woke up this morning determined to take things one at a time, breathe slowly and be patient with myself & my day.
I nearly burst into tears when I read the powerful comments of one of my one-on-one clients. They didn’t make me sad – they made me so happy & proud to work with such determined people.
He gave me permission to share his words with you guys. I’m not going to paraphrase because he says it so well.
Honest to God: it IS that simple. It’s mindset.
I can go into this day focusing on everything that has gone wrong and how stressed & tired I am. I can go into this day telling myself “What does it matter? Eff it all” and that will dramatically influence my choices, my attitude and my experience of this day.
Or, I can go into this day choosing to be excited about all the chances that will present themselves – chances that show up as opportunities for me to make progress towards my goals.
It’s not easy. It is simple.
After an exhausting & stress-filled meeting I ran into Target. As I walked through the aisles I thought about the opportunity to escape – to buy lots of treats and escape into them for a while.
I recognize those thoughts as a way that doesn’t work for me. As a way that leaves me feeling even more stressed & tired. As a way that doesn’t even come close to creating my best life.
Mindset. I chose to focus on the opportunity inherent in this day to create a life I love. I reminded myself that it feels amazing to feel amazing and that I always feel better when I make great choices than when I make not-so-great choices.
I walked out of Target with paper towels, toilet paper, avocado oil and dixie cups (the dixie cups are for icing my legs).
I felt really proud of my effort in my workout today.
I was super proud of my thrusters. I broke the set of 50 at 20 and 25 for about 5-10 seconds each but otherwise powered through! I expected smaller sets but I pushed for max effort. Feels so great!
On the food front:
I’m hungry today. I’m hungrier than normal because I didn’t sleep well last night.
I had to go straight to a meeting from the gym so I didn’t get to eat until about 1pm! No bueno for this hungry girl! Thank goodness I’ve learned that my hunger isn’t an an emergency!
When I could eat I had a cobb salad from Paleo Power Meals. I LOVE that salad.
My eating windows are totally off today with my schedule so I had an odd “lunch” of macadamia nuts and grilled chicken around 4pm and dinner wasn’t until 8:30p! I rarely eat that late but today called for it.
Dinner was an old standby – a salad from Chipotle Mexican Grill. I order a salad with no rice, no beans, chicken, pico & guacamole. Yum!
I hope you guys have an awesome weekend! See you Monday!
I’ve probably said this before but it’s really on my mind today: it feels amazing to feel amazing.
It feels so much better to make great choices I feel proud of than to make crappy choices I don’t feel proud of. The effort is worth it.
It feels so much better to take great care of my body than to neglect it.
It feels better physically, it feels better emotionally, it just feels better in every way.
This really comes down to perspective. When I would routinely overeat and binge, I’d focus exclusively on the short term pleasure of eating. I like food. I like to eat. That’s still true.
But what I’d choose NOT to focus on is how awful I felt afterwards. How I felt heavy, full, sick, frustrated & disappointed. How I isolated myself because I wasn’t comfortable in my body & I was ashamed of how I looked. None of my clothes fit me well and getting dressed each morning was stressful.
None of that was worth the few minutes of pleasure I’d get from overindulging.
Sure, I still love cookies & ice cream. A lot. They’re delicious. But I do not love the way they make me feel.
On the flip side, there are a ton of fat loss friendly foods I really love and also love the way they make me feel. That’s what I choose to focus on.
It’s a choice, after all. I could focus on how much it sucks to not be able to eat cookies and ice cream all day long, but really, it doesn’t suck at all. I hated my life and I hated how I felt when I did that.
I want better. I deserve better. I’m capable of better & I choose better.
Speaking of choosing better, I feel so great after today’s workout!
“Annie’s on the Run”
200 SU (single unders with a jump rope)
50 Sit-ups
200m Run
160 SU
40 Sit-ups
200m Run
120 SU
30 Sit-ups
200m Run
80 SU
20 Sit-ups
200m Run
40 SU
10 Sit-ups
200m Run
I loved this workout. It was the right amount of running for my body – it enabled me to push on pace of the jump rope & the sit-ups and still push on the run. It’s a great day for fitness! Plus, the sun was shining! It’s been cold & rainy in New England so that was a great change!
After the workout I did some work on my grip and back strength – hollow body holds, hanging knees-to-chest, ring rows and heavy farmer’s carry.
Throughout the day I hopped on my airdyne bike for a few slow rides (while watching TV) and a few fast intervals.
My body feels good today & that’s not by accident. It’s because I’m eating well and moving well.
Why? Because it feels amazing to feel amazing.
On the food front:
Instead of being staunchly attached to food rules like “I don’t eat before 10am”, I really try to listen to my body. If I think it would feel better to eat before my workout, I do. If I feel like I can avoid it, I do.
Today I wanted some fuel in my system before my workout so I made a really light shake of cold brew coffee, cacao powder, almond milk and frozen cauliflower. If you’re looking for something sweet, this isn’t it. It’s like an unsweetened iced mocha.
After the workout I had steak and veggies from Paleo Power Meals. It’s a pretty sizeable portion of steak so it held me over for a good few hours.
Around 1pm I had a cobb salad and, because it was so good, I had another one for dinner around 5pm.
When I can, I eat dinner pretty early because I feel best with a longer fasting window between dinner and my first meal the following day. I think I sleep better, too.
The other day I overheard a conversation between two women at the gym. One woman was complaining to the other about her stress incontinence, or, as she described it, leaking urine during her workout.
The other woman shared that she has the same problem and they attributed it to having kids and talked about how there was no solution other than surgery.
That’s not true.
In today’s episode, I’m talking not only about stress incontinence but about how we ignore problems instead of fixing them. That has got to stop.
We power through workouts without regard to what is happening with our bodies. We do nothing about aches, pains, incontinence, headaches and other symptoms instead of looking to identify & resolve the underlying issue.
Whether you workout or not, whether you experience stress incontinence or not, I strongly recommend you listen to this episode, and to your body.
