1 Choice + 2 Simple Words Is All It Takes To Be Successful

Success is not an event or a life changing moment, it comes down to one simple decision... “All overnight success takes about 10 years.” – Jeff …

* This article was originally published here

Here’s What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About The Journey To Healing

Healing is falling in love with life, and sometimes it’s falling out the day after, but most importantly, it’s never giving up.

I wish I could tell you that healing is straightforward, that healing is linear, that everything simply clicks into place and suddenly you’re free, happy, and cured. But the truth is, healing is messy; at times, it’s ugly. Other times, it’s just chaotic.

There’s nothing really pretty about removing yourself from the places you’ve found comfort in and throwing yourself headfirst into the deep end. It’s not really fun having to drag yourself out of bed against the forces of your own resistance. If I’m being honest, in the early stages, there’s probably absolutely nothing attractive or enticing about the long journey ahead. You may ask, Why would anyone want to put themselves through that? That feeling of hope, only to have it taken away; that pain, the relapse; that endless cycle. Why would anyone want that? I’ll tell you: No one wants that. No one wanders and accidentally finds themselves on this path because it looked lush and lovely on the outset.

This journey of healing and recovery is a choice made because it’s a choice that is necessary. We choose it because we know, for our own sake and sanity, we need it. We caught a glimpse of what life on the other side could hold, and we made that split second decision. And once that decision is made, it’s done. When you choose a path of healing, you choose it for good. No matter how long it takes, this is the path you’re on: the path to a life of growth, gratitude, and everything your higher self screams for.

It takes time to heal from the things that once broke you, whether that be a situation, a someone, or even yourself. Remind yourself of why you chose this path and don’t give up now just because it’s taking a while. Be patient while you put together the pieces, love yourself, and forgive yourself. You won’t get it right the first time, but with each time, you will be one step closer.

* This article was originally published here

7 Steps For Mastering The Motivation You Need To Work Out

Staying motivated is one of the major keys to succeeding in almost all areas of life, not just fitness. If we’re not motivated, we are more likely to give up and abandon our goals, whether they are business goals or personal goals. Most times, people are quick to give up on their fitness goals, as it is easily pushed to the side when life happens.

We all go through ups and downs, good days and bad days. It is important to remember that this only makes us human. I believe the fundamental factor is that when you do have an “off day,” it does not determine your actions from that point forward. You must get up and keep moving. When it comes to setting health and fitness goals, staying motivated to work out at the gym or at home, it is important that we understand that being fit and healthy really isn’t a definite goal but a journey (a continuum of making healthy choices).

So here are seven steps to mastering the motivation you need.

1. Keep a positive mindset

If you associate working out as being a chore or a duty, eventually you will end up despising it, dread going, and end up falling out of your routine entirely. This is the total opposite reaction of what we want. I want you to think about why you are doing it and how good you will feel after your workout and how proud you will be. Focusing on the positive side if training will change your whole experience and make it more enjoyable and you will actually start looking forward to your next workout.

2. Never compare yourself

Living a healthy lifestyle is a sign of self-love. When you work out, you are doing it for you to make yourself feel great from that point forward. Acknowledge this love you are giving yourself and nurture it. Know that you deserve to treat your mind and body with your utmost attention, love, appreciation, and respect. So never compare yourself to the next person. Remember we are all different and that’s what makes us unique, so that means we all progress at different levels.

3. Create a plan

Don’t just wing it. Have a plan. What is it you want to achieve that week? Set yourself goals. With each and every workout session, you should be progressing towards your goal. This keeps training exciting and it becomes something you look forward to.

4. Follow like-minded people

“Surround yourself with people that reflect who you want to be and how you want to feel, energies are contagious.” — Rachel Wolchin

Look up people who have similar interests as you on all social media platforms and follow them! Each and every day, as you scroll through your feed, you will be reminded of how there is someone out there with the same goals and interests as you, and if they are good, it could be even more motivating for you.

5. Alternate your workouts

By changing up your workouts regularly, you will stay focused and also find it more exciting and interesting. Sometimes we figure out a routine that we feel comfortable with, and this is great if it makes us feel comfortable and more confident doing it. However, we can fall into a rut and end up finding it boring, which can result in developing a lack of motivation to keep going back. I always try to mix up my workouts every single time to challenge myself more and keep the excitement going.

6. Schedule rest days

Sometimes even the most hardworking and determined people need a break. Rest days are very important and essential to our growth and revitalization of the body. Believe me, this can really help you pick up your motivation again and keep on going. Have one- or two-day breaks from training. Get plenty of rest and then back to training.

7. Enjoy the process

You probably heard the famous saying that the road to success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome. Focusing on the journey also shines a light on what else you get out of trying to reach your goals. Enjoy the ups and downs, and above all, learn from it. Figure out what works best for you and enjoy the process. Soon you will look back and smile to see how far you have come.

So there you have it. Take these seven steps and start implementing them today to increase your motivation. Stay safe and healthy out there.

* This article was originally published here

Here’s To The Girls Who Never Gave Up

Here’s to the girls who never gave up.

The ones who were told, “No, you can’t.”

The ones who were taunted and terrorized at every turn. The ones who were told that they were too fat, or too skinny, or too pretty, or ugly. The ones who were told that they were not smart enough or too smart for their own good. The ones who were told to stay in their lane, or stay quiet, or pretend like they didn’t know the answer when, in fact, they did.

Here’s to the girls who never gave up.

The ones who tuned out the noise, the chatter, and the chorus of “no.” The ones who were able to mute the whispers of lies that told them that they were not good enough – so that they could hear the little voice inside of them that said, “you can.”

Here’s to the girls who never gave up.

The ones who were able to rise above the mess and the heartache. The ones who were told what they could or could not do with their own bodies – but found a way to claim their rights, anyway—the ones who told the world that they are not to be bought or to be owned.

Here’s to the girls who never gave up.

The ones who continue to soar to great heights, despite the ones around them trying to clip their wings. The ones who didn’t give up on dreams, but instead, persisted – and persevered.

Here’s to the girls who never gave up.

You are the doctors, the lawyers, the teachers. You are the mothers, the wives, the girlfriends. You are the artists, the writers, the thinkers, and do-gooders. You are the poets, the architects, the designers, and the judges. You are the engineers, the businesswomen, the change-makers. You are the ones who now sit at tables that never put out a chair for you. You are the things that we have yet to dream of – but you are the ones who will make those dreams a reality.

You are the hope of the women who live within you – your ancestors who fought and dared to dream beyond what they were given.

Here’s to the girls who never gave up.

You are more than one thing.

You have always been more than one thing.

* This article was originally published here

The Truth Is, You’re Supposed To Feel Lost in Life

Something we fail to realize until it’s often too late is that plans are not guaranteed outcomes. They are possible results.

We often grow up assuming that life will go according to our plans and that one day everything will fall into place by the sheer virtue of time. We go through life, we stumble, we hesitate, we fail, we make new plans. We struggle so much that we assume this means we are going to win one day. It does not.

For most of my life, I thought I was going to climb the corporate ladder one day. So I studied, kept my grades up, and joined University, only to realize that everything I thought I wanted meant nothing to me.

No one wants to face the fact that they might have been wasting years of their life and a substantial amount of money chasing a dream that never belonged to them in the first place. Most importantly, no one wants to let go of the only way they imagined their future to be.

It’s uncomfortable. It’s scary. But to me, the fear of being stuck somewhere I didn’t belong was far worse than the fear of not knowing what’s next.

Real change only happens in uncertainty

Life doesn’t go according to plans. Not everybody becomes the person they are meant to be. Not everyone wins. This is because not everyone wants to deal with feeling lost in life.

We are, by nature, comfort-seeking animals. We are in constant pursuit of the familiar, the known, and the simplistic. We seek security over purpose and comfort over happiness.

We have a lot of addictions in life, and the majority of them are so mild we don’t even recognize them as addictions. We are mildly addicted to our phone, our laptop, our relationship, our routines, our sense of self.

Mild addictions are the most dangerous because you run the risk of never becoming aware of them. They feel unharmful, comforting, good even, so you continue to play the reinforcement loop in your head that makes you compelled to act on them and the cycle never ends. Until these reinforcement loops start breaking, you never wake up.

When you choose to stay where you are, to play small, to never begin, to never leap, you are choosing out of fear of feeling lost. You are trading the fear of uncertainty for the fear of staying the same.

You tell yourself that things will change, that you will change, but you don’t realize that change never happens in the future, it always starts in the present. And more often than not, it starts when it’s the only option left.

Often, we decide to change, to rise, to move forward, not because we want to but because we are forced to. Often, it takes our comfort zone to collapse, our certainties to break, our shells to crumble for us to realize that it’s time to act on our mild addictions and level up.

This is why you are supposed to feel lost in life. Because if you never feel that way, you may never commit to change, you may never grow, and you may never become the person you’ve always intended to be.

It is what we lose that allows us to find ourselves

If I stayed in the wrong University; if I followed the path someone else built for me; if I never moved out of my small town; if I never traded my security for the possibility of self-actualization; if I didn’t leave the well-paved road for the steep alley, I would have never fulfilled my life purpose.

The truth is that we all have fears, we all have doubts, we all have experiences we wish we never went through and people we wish we never met. It’s something we will never be free from. And that’s okay. What’s not okay is letting those emotions dictate how you are going to live your life.

If the only reason you are avoiding change is that you are scared of what will happen, if you are staying the same and keeping a low profile because of the fear of uncertainty, then it is possible that you get to the very end of this thing and realize that you spent your days feeling apathetic, unexcited, smoldering resentments and fears.

Even worse, you may realize that you never got to know yourself, because the only way you get to know someone is when they are facing difficulty. In other words, if you never feel lost, if you never reach your breaking point, which is the ground zero on which most of life really begins, you can’t say you have lived at all.

Often, it’s what we lose that allows us to get in touch with our most vulnerable self. It’s when we face uncertainty that we are forced to forge a new path for ourselves. It’s always discomfort that opens a new field of potential for us.

What you need to know

By nature, we reject uncertainty and seek comfort. When we choose to stay where we are, to play small, to never begin, to never leap, we are choosing out of fear of feeling lost.

But in trying to avoid uncertainty, we become a shell of the person we were meant to be. In being willing — or forced — to experience it, we become exactly who we had always intended. We become more than we were and everything we possibly could be.

* This article was originally published here

So are you going to do it?

No, are you… Are you willing to step outside your comfort zone? Will you take the leap? In my last two articles, I shared seven strategies that will …

* This article was originally published here

How To Stay Positive While Losing Weight

Losing weight can be difficult under any circumstances, but it can be especially difficult when you aren't feeling happy with yourself or your progress. The reality is, though, that being down on yourself or what you have accomplished so far can end up making the process even harder. The good news is, though, that you don't have to feel stuck in this situation. There can be many ways to change your outlook and start feeling more positive about the steps you're taking to be healthier and happier.

Try New Things To Get a Boost

Whether you just started working out and dieting and aren't seeing the progress that you thought you would, or you've been doing it for a while and have hit a plateau, it can be easy to feel discouraged when you aren't meeting your goals on the timeline that you wanted to. In this kind of situation, finding new ways to give your efforts a boost can be helpful.

One way to do this is to try a supplement. Whether you opt for a comprehensive multivitamin to fill in nutritional gaps in your diet and provide you with more energy, or for a supplement that might have weight loss supporting properties, a supplement can be a simple way to give yourself a boost. Before selecting a supplement, though, it can be a good idea to do your research by reading le-vel thrive reviews so that you have an idea of what a supplement can accomplish for you.

Make a Big Deal Out of Small Successes

Another way to stay positive even when you don't feel things are going as well as you want them to is to start adjusting how you look at your accomplishments. The trap that many fall into is setting high goals and then getting upset when they fail to reach them quickly. They may be so set on these high goals that they fail to recognize all of the progress they have made. By celebrating all the things you have accomplished, even if they seem small, you can be better aware of just how far you have come, and have confidence that you can keep making more positive changes.

Embrace Your Flaws

Sometimes, even when weight loss is going well, some may still not feel as happy about their progress as they would like. This can be because they thought that weight loss would change everything, and remove their insecurities. The truth is, that even after weight loss, you will be the same person and even if you feel better about your weight, you will still have many of the same insecurities that you had before. By learning to accept your insecurities, even if you don't like them, you can release some negative feelings that may be holding you back from truly enjoying the positive changes you've been making.

Don't Go By the Scale

Letting your mood for the day depend on the number you see on the scale can be a recipe for discouragement, especially when you are working hard to lose weight. What some don't realize is that your body weight can fluctuate due to many factors, and that even if you are eating well and exercising regularly, the scale may not always show the progress that you are actually making.

One cause of this is that if you are exercising, you can end up gaining muscle, which can make your weight go up, even though you are improving your physique and overall health. Water weight can be another culprit, and a slow digestion can be another. The less that you focus on the scale and more on maintaining good daily habits, the faster it will feel like you are meeting your goals.

The Bottom Line

Losing weight is rarely easy. Not only that, but it can be even more difficult if you're feeling discouraged about your progress. The good news is, though, that by doing things like giving yourself a boost when you hit a plateau and not letting your mood be dependent on what the scale says, you can start feeling better about your progress today.

The post How To Stay Positive While Losing Weight appeared first on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement.

* This article was originally published here