Have you ever heard the expression, "haters gonna....make wild assumptions based on little gathered information about others, most likely fueled by jealousy?" Yeah, me neither. It's pretty much true however, I feel. I get asked frequently as a trainer as well as a competitor (current and prospective) some pretty "out there" questions. Here are some bullet pointed examples. Everyone likes bullet points.
. How could you go without eating whatever you want?
. Why would you go out of your way to run though fire, mud and barbed wire?!
.You train and work out that much? Do you not have a social life?
. I don't know how you don't drink or party, that sounds crazy.
Well, you get the point. Is it so crazy though, that I would want to better my self image though healthy choices? I most certainly think not. I suppose this rant is sort of answering to all those doubters out there. I would go ahead and formally apologize to all the people who have felt the need to criticize what I do, but I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry what I do for a living and for recreation makes you feel like you aren't active enough. I'm not sorry my lifestyle has nothing whatsoever in common with yours. Upset about it? Go do something about it. In fact, go ahead and remove anything I do from your thoughts unless its regarding some sort of motivation. I do not look down on those who chose not to be healthy, or do the things I do. It is frankly none of my business. Is it so much to ask for the same in return? I suppose I had my answer when I began writing this, however.
Moral of the story kids, is if you are passionate, driven or motivated about something go ahead and tune out the people who tell you that you're crazy. If an individual has nothing better to do than negatively criticize what you're doing then they are most likely so unhappy with their own lives that they have decided to insert themselves into yours. Don't let that effect you. After all, there are two wolves in your life. One is good, kind, forgiving and strong. The other is evil, malicious, and demeaning. Only one wins, and it is the one you feed.
-Mia Petitti
-credits to the Cherokee Legend - Two Wolves
Friday, March 15, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Assumptions: We all Know what They Make of Us.
How I started watching select ( I SAID SELECT) shows on MTV I don't know. One thing I do know is that World of Jenk's Kaylin has provoked some avoided thoughts for me. For those of you who don't know, she is a wonderful young woman who has battled two different types of cancer at the tender age of 23. Andrew Jenks asks, "How do you live everyday knowing the cancer could come back?"
I thought on this for a good while. Realizing that I too share the frightening knowledge that mine will always have the chance at coming back. So I asked myself, how do I live knowing that it could? Truth is, I have no **!@# clue. I can go ahead and guess what it would do to me, considering how I handled it the last time (not well, but through pretty inappropriate humor). Then it hit me, I was doing exactly what I was trying to prevent people from doing as a personal trainer. I was deciding my destiny before life could show me what it would bring. I had already decided in my thoughts that if it came back I would more than likely shut down. Yet here I was, telling my clients that you can not decide you will fail before you even try.
I guess the point of putting this into writing is that I needed to say something to anyone who has had something to struggle with. Weight loss, illness, self esteem, abusive relationships, loss of loved ones, etc. Never assume failure. It will only lead to the failure itself. Yes, it is difficult sometimes. We're human after all. However, here is how I see it. You, as a human were given the right to succeed and fail. You were also given the opportunities to learn from those experiences. The second you assume failure is the second you alienate yourself of the right and ability to succeed. This is how Kaylin lives everyday knowing her illness might come back. She has yet to assume failure. It's that simple.
P.S. I said simple. Not easy.
I thought on this for a good while. Realizing that I too share the frightening knowledge that mine will always have the chance at coming back. So I asked myself, how do I live knowing that it could? Truth is, I have no **!@# clue. I can go ahead and guess what it would do to me, considering how I handled it the last time (not well, but through pretty inappropriate humor). Then it hit me, I was doing exactly what I was trying to prevent people from doing as a personal trainer. I was deciding my destiny before life could show me what it would bring. I had already decided in my thoughts that if it came back I would more than likely shut down. Yet here I was, telling my clients that you can not decide you will fail before you even try.
I guess the point of putting this into writing is that I needed to say something to anyone who has had something to struggle with. Weight loss, illness, self esteem, abusive relationships, loss of loved ones, etc. Never assume failure. It will only lead to the failure itself. Yes, it is difficult sometimes. We're human after all. However, here is how I see it. You, as a human were given the right to succeed and fail. You were also given the opportunities to learn from those experiences. The second you assume failure is the second you alienate yourself of the right and ability to succeed. This is how Kaylin lives everyday knowing her illness might come back. She has yet to assume failure. It's that simple.
P.S. I said simple. Not easy.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Overthinking will be the Death of Me
Well, it has been a few years since my last blog. A friend however, has rekindled my passion for sharing my thoughts. I thank her for that (you'll be hearing from me soon). As well as over analyzing well, everything.
As I stood in front of the mirror today I thought jeeze, I'm getting fat. Am I fat? No. Am I getting fat? Nope. I'm pretty fit. In fact, I hate the word fat. It is a word that serves as ammo for bullies of all ages. To save you all a rant I'll just end it at that. Immediately after those thoughts followed what seemed to be a scripted monologue. "I am beautiful the way I am," etc. etc.. While there is nothing wrong with that I began realizing that we say those things to ourselves because we as human beings were entirely too sick of feeling the pressure on how we "should look." If you ask me however, I believe we are unknowingly pressured to think those positive thoughts as well.
Truth is we all feel like crap about something at some point in time. Why? Because we are HUMAN. Humans have emotions, good, bad, sensible and sometimes the farthest thing from. So then why I ask, is it that when I think those positive thoughts I sometimes feel bad for it? It's because I don't always believe it... along with every other person on this planet. I would just like to take a minute to propose that we re-direct the pressure to just feeling...You guessed it...Human. This isn't just about weight, either. It's about anything and everything that makes you - a perfectly worthy and deserving person- feel like crap.
The reality is we all feel like crap for something at some point. The trick is not feeling even worse for feeling that way in the first place. Think about something you don't like about yourself. Got it? Good. If you really care that much, do something about it and use that negative human emotion as motivation to not feel that way anymore. If you don't care that much about it, then it may be time to just take a deep breath and say, " O.k. it is out of my system," and get over it. Embrace your inner human, citizens. It is much more real and forgiving than telling yourself something you don't believe.
-Its good to be back.
Mia Petitti
As I stood in front of the mirror today I thought jeeze, I'm getting fat. Am I fat? No. Am I getting fat? Nope. I'm pretty fit. In fact, I hate the word fat. It is a word that serves as ammo for bullies of all ages. To save you all a rant I'll just end it at that. Immediately after those thoughts followed what seemed to be a scripted monologue. "I am beautiful the way I am," etc. etc.. While there is nothing wrong with that I began realizing that we say those things to ourselves because we as human beings were entirely too sick of feeling the pressure on how we "should look." If you ask me however, I believe we are unknowingly pressured to think those positive thoughts as well.
Truth is we all feel like crap about something at some point in time. Why? Because we are HUMAN. Humans have emotions, good, bad, sensible and sometimes the farthest thing from. So then why I ask, is it that when I think those positive thoughts I sometimes feel bad for it? It's because I don't always believe it... along with every other person on this planet. I would just like to take a minute to propose that we re-direct the pressure to just feeling...You guessed it...Human. This isn't just about weight, either. It's about anything and everything that makes you - a perfectly worthy and deserving person- feel like crap.
The reality is we all feel like crap for something at some point. The trick is not feeling even worse for feeling that way in the first place. Think about something you don't like about yourself. Got it? Good. If you really care that much, do something about it and use that negative human emotion as motivation to not feel that way anymore. If you don't care that much about it, then it may be time to just take a deep breath and say, " O.k. it is out of my system," and get over it. Embrace your inner human, citizens. It is much more real and forgiving than telling yourself something you don't believe.
-Its good to be back.
Mia Petitti
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