Perseverance.

[Source: ME!]

I have been doing a ton of reflection lately now that the first month of the year is coming to an end. With so many changes taking place at work and me working on my health and school work, I feel like I have been pushing myself to my limit. My body is slowly giving into whatever sickness it has been trying to fight off and I found myself slowly losing my motivation to keep going.

The other day while mindlessly watching Youtube video after Youtube video, I came across one by Stephanie Buttermore. What interested me about her videos weren't her fitness routines, but clips regarding her bachelors, two masters, and her Ph.D. while still putting a lot of focus on her training and health. It blew me away! I was so inspired by her perseverance in obtaining each of her degrees and still being able to focus on herself because let's face it: balancing all of your interests on top of your responsibilities in life can be quite difficult without the right mindset.

I sort of felt sorry for myself and a little disappointed in the fact that I haven't achieved as much as others have at the end of 2017, but I knew deep down that our paths are not meant to be the same as others'. I began to look at the things that I have achieved so far this year. Without getting into the details of my personal life, I am happy to say that I am already making a significant amount of personal and professional growth, which leads me to the tweets shown above.

We as a society have that "go hard or go home" type of mindset. We rarely stop to congratulate ourselves on our small victories or on the hustle that we've been putting in day in and day out in order to reach our dreams. If we did that more often, I bet we could all be so much happier with ourselves and become even more motivated to push through until the very end. Although I wanted this year to be about focus, I would love to incorporate more reflection as well.

Remind yourself of how amazing you're doing, because if you've made it this far in whatever journey you are on then that in itself is something to celebrate.

Little by Little.

[Source.]

Anxiety has never been my best friend, although it likes to stick with me through every decision and every milestone in my life as if it were. This morning I woke up exhausted from my new medication keeping me awake at night. I missed my early morning gym session and immediately was flooded with feelings of anxiety and guilt. I stayed there in bed for an hour feeling sorry for myself. I knew that I could get up at any moment and head to the gym, but I felt too anxious. I thought to myself, "Well, there goes the #gymshark66 challenge. I missed two days of the gym and about to miss my third, so why bother?"

Why bother? Because I only missed two days! Missing two days doesn't even come close to meaning that I failed. No great adventure has ever been easy and calm. If you look at all of your favorite adventure shows, movies, or stories the characters in them had one struggle or another. I am the hero of my story, and missing two days doesn't mean that I have to pack up my bags, turn around, and head home. Bilbo Baggins didn't run back to the Shire and whine about how hard his adventure was. Captain Jack Sparrow didn't give up after one failed treasure hunt and retire from being a pirate. And no matter how many times a villain was hard to beat, Sailor Moon didn't give up.

The decision to get out of bed turns into the decision to get dressed. The decision to get dressed turns into the decision to get into your car. The decision to get into your car turns into the decision to drive to the gym, and so on. All it takes is one decision at a time.