I "met" my dear friend Jess probably 3 years ago. Funny how it happened actually. I somehow, through clicks and whatnot, ended up on her family blog. I saw a picture of her husband wearing an elitefts "Strong(er)" shirt. So of course I was like.... WHAAAAAAAT?
I left a comment saying something like,
"Hey! So I saw you husband's shirt! I've been with team elitefts for quite some time! Very cool to see others support the site."
I get a response back that was about as giddy as a little school girl.
"Oh my gosh!!!!!!! I know who you are!! Holy crap... blah blah blah..." The rest is history.
This was Jess at the start of 2014...
I did a few small group programs with Jess shortly after that, for her and some of her mom friends. She saw great progress, even without a customized plan.
Then late 2014 I worked with her on her nutrition and again, she was awesome. Well, a little something had been brewing in the back of her mind. She talked to me about doing a bikini competition (after all her hard work, I knew a concrete goal would be good for her). I knew she wanted to, but I also knew the fear inside of her. The same fears I wrote about in my Judged e-book - what will people think of me? What if I fail? What if people judge me or think bad of me?
Despite feeling that way, we talked about it and she decided to go for it. I told her that I would like it if she blogged about it. As nervous as she was, I'm proud of her for stepping waaaaaaaay out of her comfort zone AND blogging about it.
Here's a little of what she wrote....
"Then I had a moment of realization brought to me by my beautiful 12 year old daughter. She had joined a local softball organization and was placed on a team with girls significantly older than her who all played on an elite team year round. She was the youngest on the team by two years. Most of the girls were 15/16 years old. On her first practice I was terrified for her. I hid my feelings well and pumped her up about this "being a great experience" and blah blah blah. I told her all the things a mom should tell their daughter. "You can do this. You don't have to be the best. Do this to learn and to grow. It will make you better in the long run. Push yourself." Her first practice was insane. These girls were basically pros in high school bodies. My daughter looked like a baby out there. She was so far behind all of them, talent-wise. I wanted to cry for her. I couldn't imagine being out there with all those girls, none of which she knew, who were all so much better than her.
At the end of practice the whole team huddled together with one hand in the middle to do a little team cheer and my sweet daughter was so tiny that she was left running around the group trying to find a spot to stick her little hand in the huddle. She was like a runt pig trying to find a teet. As she came back to the car I expected her to burst into tears and beg to quit. I was actually trying to think of a way to justify her quitting. But to my surprise, she walked to the car with the biggest smile on her face. She LOVED it. She was excited and had fun. FUN? Your had FUN out there?!? She even joked about how the coach yelled at her for something and made her run laps and as she was running laps she thought to herself, "this definitely isn't my old pee wee team anymore! haha" HA. HA? Could she possibly be serious?
It was then that I knew I had to do this. I needed to be the person I was pumping my daughter up to be. How could I tell her all of these encouraging things that I honestly believed and then not have them apply to my own self? How could I be an example to her if I couldn't even reach for my OWN dreams? I thought back to my humble dream before I started my business and how I had so much drive and determination back then. Where did that go? Does it have to go away as you get older and more involved in the lives of your children? NO."
And here she is just a couple weeks ago. We are actually looking to put some muscle on her. I know that she can be as lean as she needs to be when she eats clean. So right now, it's a matter of getting some slabs of muscle on her without the added body fat.
