Tuesday 27 May 2014

Finding a passion and creating yourself :)


The BEST Quote Ever!


Well it's been a LONG time since I last blogged. I haven't had a ton to say to be honest. 
 I've been off doing fun things and living in and quite enjoying :




 Recently I submitted my story to Inside fitness and to Bodybuilding.com...lucky for me they decided to print  and feature my story :) It was one of the best feelings to see myself in print...and over the top to have my boys see Mom in a magazine. The topper being that Ian's friends at school saw me in Inside Fitness, filling him with Extra mommy pride! All of these features have brought out lots of supporters that I am very very thankful for...I truly appreciate all the kind words, the shares, the likes and the hugs! 

This week was bodybuilding.com week, My feature was published on the largest body building website in the WORLD. Ya kinda crazy eh!...like YIIIPPEEE crazy ;) Along with this came a ton...and I mean a TON of emails, FB messages IG messages...The response has been overwhelming. I believe my feature had over 110 shares ...Thus leading to lots of attention.

A lot of the messages were from Mom's. Because I am a Mom...lol and its a big...no likely the #1 reason I started this,. I thought I would address some concerns from them encase there were others with the same issues. There were a few trends in the messages that I started to notice. There was a constant sense of guilt for wanting to find time for themselves, there was a desperation that I totally understood, There was a general feeling of it never happening for them and what can you tell someone starting out. So I thought I would try and be as open as I can be about these topics.

1.Mom Guilt. By far the most crippling of all guilt. It happens the instant you give birth. The feeling of fierce protection, the devotion, The commitment to this little life in your arms. You vow to do everything you can to give this little person EVERYTHING...to be EVERYTHING!! That's the killer word...you vow to give him or her EVERYTHING your EVERYTHING. That's when guilt can take over your life. Mom's have a hard time giving themselves anytime because they feel they should come last, that the family, the dishes, the laundry etc comes before them. Think about it for 2 seconds...The laundry is more important than you being able to do something for you!?!  Do the kids realllly need to be in 5 activities a week.?! That's not anything you would teach your children, so why show them that you deserve to treat yourself as second to housework or that your desires and activities are less important than theirs?!?. If you don't value you...will they grow up to value themselves?!?





I've said this before but I will again for the new readers and as a good reminder. One of the best things is  having my boys watch me go after something. They watched me commit to something, and finish. I had a life long dream of being athletic, fit and healthy. I needed to create myself...and I feel super blessed that I waited until I had children to go after ME.  This leads me perfectly into the next trend.

2. Desperation to find yourself I heard a lot of mom's and wives say they feel lost, like they don't know who they are anymore. This one really hit me the most...it's something I hadn't thought about for a while. Being a Mom is busy...lol. It really is. Throw in being a wife and employed and most day's just blur together. You are the master of all things. You wear a million hats all day long...it's an amazing job but at times you stop and think...Man is my only role my only purpose to do stuff for other people?! What the heck did I used to do before all this awesome craziness started?! This can make you feel lost...or just spinning your wheels. 
Things are so different for Men and Women. I was raised to be a strong independent woman.  When a woman gets married she usually takes on her husbands name, I struggled long and hard with this choice but eventually I did decide to take my husbands name. I then remember feeling like I was now Allen's Wife. It's not a bad thing...but I know a lot of women will understand where I'm coming from on this one. I'm no longer Sheryl Gesinghaus...I'm Allen's wife...Sheryl Gatzke. Then we had 2 amazing boys...and I then became Ian and Eric's Mom...that is married to Allen. See the trend here ?!?!... Where did Sheryl go?!?
I remember telling Craig in one of our very early training sessions at World Gym that I started this to find myself, create the person I always wanted to be, and most importantly to not lose myself being someone else... I knew I had to do it now, find this person, I was running out of time.
Don't get me wrong...again, being a wife and a mother are two awesome parts of my life, but I needed and always wanted more...I wanted to be ME, I wanted to have my own stuff, my dreams my time. 
I think this is the MOST important thing.... Let your children watch you be passionate...let them see you be fierce, let them learn from your actions...teach them that you are never to old to follow your dreams!!

For me I wasn't ever athletic, I wasn't this person before I had children. I had this person in my head for years...most of my life. I just wasn't brave enough to start the process until later in my life. Again It was a blessing to do this when I did.
So for you...I advise you to do what you want! If your dream is to be a great dancer, then DO IT. If you want to go back to school DO IT!...Take the same advise you give your children. 

"You can be whatever you want to be"
 "Regardless of the time it will take to get to your goals, go after them, the time will pass anyway"

3.What I can tell you about starting out. Again any of my past reader may know most of this already..but I thought I should say somethings again.
Before I started I looked at my life...as I said in my article on BB.com I knew I wasn't going to be able to eat bags of chips and pizza. I had to admit that I had an addiction to food and that I needed to change. I looked at weight loss as rehab. I wanted to be a different person, so I took it as a learning experience, My creating ME course ;) A few other things I listed in my bb.com article that are very important.  

SUGGESTIONS FOR ASPIRING TRANSFORMERS


"IF YOU WANT IT BAD ENOUGH, IT WILL HAPPEN. IF YOU DON'T, YOU WILL FAIL."
  • Consistency is the key.
  • Take progress photos.
  • Accept that people will judge your body, lifestyle, and training.
  • Take time to think about why you want to change.
  • Transformations take time and a complete lifestyle overhaul.
  • You may look worse before you look better.
  • Seek out help, find a good trainer, research training, and learn about dieting.
  • If you want it bad enough, it will happen. If you don't, you will fail.
In closing what I did was was MY GOAL. I have now become the person I wanted to be. I get to do what I LOVE every day. I've found my passion and I give it...I give ME...everything I deserve. I have a balance that works for me, I have gown and built my career according to my way of life. It wasn't luck, it was hard work, commitment, consistency striving to hit a clear goal and dedication to making my dreams my life.
So if you have a dream...go after it. :):)