An Epic Adventure Means Choosing a Different Way
What I did was unexpected. I decided that my epic life waited but it didn’t have to look like the one I’d started writing. I changed the plot. Sure, the end goal to have some positive impact on the world is still there, especially women, but how I do it…that changed. I looked at the tools I held and remembered one very important thing I’ve built into every book I’ve written.
You can’t help others at the level of a hero or shero until you (1) acknowledge your weaknesses, (2) choose to make those internal transformations, (3) train for that epic life, and (4) see the transformation on the outside as well. Only THEN, once mind, body, and that indelible spirit are truly in sync through some challenging physical and mental personal growth that demands a stronger spirit, THEN you’re ready to show up and act.
An Honest Look at Myself
Acknowledging My Weaknesses
My health had suffered over the past three years. I’d put on 30 pounds in that time (The Covid-19 nineteen plus additional pounds from stress and inactivity). This was despite knowing I should exercise.
I flat out didn’t want to exercise, so I didn’t. It was the last weekend in August when I casually said I don’t like going to the gym and didn’t want to work out to one of my neighbors with a nice home gym. And I (thought) I meant it. I knew what I needed to do but I wasn’t doing it. I’m sure no one can relate to that. I’m the only one who didn’t do what I know works.
One Small Action
Choosing to Make an Internal Transformation
Your action doesn’t have to be big. It can be one seemingly small thing. But if it challenges your status quo, comfort, and ways of being, it’s a change and a challenge. And change is hard (and that’s okay). If you’re on a wellness journey maybe it’s something that doesn’t even seem related. For me, it was making a commitment to do something for me consistently.
My goal was to not skip a single day for at least 30 days. You know what it was? Duo Lingo. Even just 2-3 minutes each day consistently did something for me. Like, yea, you did a whole week, then two weeks. I loved feeling like I was doing something to get better at something I wanted to get better at for me. Every day.
(Finally) Answering the Long Call to Action
Training for that Epic Life
Less than two weeks later it clicked that I could do something else. I could work on my health and get back in shape. I had to chuckle at myself for my comment about not liking working out.
When I finally answered the call I felt purposeful. The call went deep inside. It may not be like that for you or others, but that’s how it felt for me. I had to commit. I felt like my life, my mental health, the quality of my very existence, and yes, my magic depended on it.
The Transformation
It’s Inside and Out
Over the next two and a half months (from September 10th to now) I wake up and answer the call again. I say yes to training my body through resistance training and my mind through the discipline of showing up for myself at the gym and with what I eat (and by keeping up with Duo).
Since starting I’ve been happier, less stressed, dropped about 30 pounds, lowered my blood pressure, body fat, have more energy, am physically stronger, and other random ailments have eased or vanished. The transformation is evident inside and out.
A Little Thing Can Birth the Epic
Sometimes it’s just a little thing you do in some area you care about for yourself that sets that wheel in motion. Thanks Duo Lingo.
Many of us, myself included, are like Lafia. Feeling like failures, looking for our magic because we know there’s gotta be something more. And we’re not wrong. We may simply be looking in the wrong place or going in a direction that isn’t going to get us where we want to be. I haven’t won the day yet, claimed every last bit of magic I have, or gotten it all right, but that’s what makes the adventure epic. I know I’m on the right road.
Lafia wanted to make a difference too but first she needed her magic. She had so much desire to get her magic back so she could rule and that desire, that passion for herself, set everything else in motion in a way that meant she’d never be the same. I can tell you this; I will never be the same either.
What if we did just one thing for ourselves that set things in motion for an epic life?
What would that thing be for you?
