Well hello there after a long hiatus! Happy New Year! Yes, I know we are days away from February so I'm a little late to the "Happy New Year" party. I've been settling into my 2014 joyful, excited, elated, overwhelmed, nervous, stressed and the list of adjectives could go on. In June I will be getting married. It's pretty much the biggest thing that's happened in my life thus far so let's let this pressure cooker begin! We got engaged in November and decided on a location in December so we are doing the 6 months out as opposed to a year, thing. I guess things are supposed to feel rushed but...they don't. I mean, I've never done this before so I don't know how it's supposed to feel but I wouldn't say rushed is one of my main feelings. When I tell people that 6/14/14 is our wedding date, reactions are something along the lines of "wow, that's so soon! Why the rush?" Honestly, all of the parties I've ever planned I started planning maybe 2 weeks out AT MOST, so 6 months seems pretty reasonable to me. It's a lot, for sure. Even as I write this blog I'm going back and forth on gchat with my fiance about wedding photographers and getting distracted by random stuff on Wedding Wire. But rushed isn't the feeling. Maybe because we are getting married on St. John in the US Virgin Islands things are a little easier. We didn't need to book a venue 18 months out (that I couldn't find an available and affordable venue in New York or North Carolina 11 months out was shocking to me as I first started looking) and everything seems to be on "Island Time." My type-A, New York "getitdonerightnowandaswerallmyemailsrightnowandallmyphonecallsrightnow" mentality is seriously being tested, but it's good for me. I'm slowing down when I didn't even know that slowing down was a challenge I faced because fast is the norm for me in daily life. The only thing that is making me anxious are the people around me questioning how we are going to get it all done in time. Or even reading wedding magazines that always have this arbitrary countdown at the beginning of every issue. 3 months out I must order [insert random wedding thing here] and if I don't, it will all fall apart! My rational self knows everything will come together and we will have a beautiful wedding with no rush at all. But sometimes it's hard to trust when others question me or I let myself get sucked in to worry for no reason at all.
So to bring things full circle, what I'm realizing is, feeling a certain way because others question me or feeling rushed to be somewhere in my life physically, mentally, emotionally, because I'm "supposed" to be there, always comes up for me. To bring it in the physical realm of things, it's easy to feel pressured to look a certain way because of what we see on a magazine cover or because of someone we know in our lives who we allow to become the standard of how we should look. I mean, good god! At this time in my life, I'm supposed to look the best I've ever looked because I'm the bride. Hello, pressure! I hate that the standard has become, "diet, exercise, diet before your wedding because you'll never look this good ever again!" Why does that have to be true for everyone? I get it. I do. You're being professionally photographed and it's one of the most important days of your life where all of your friends and family are looking at you and you want to look and feel great. Understood. But don't let all of that just surround an event. Hold onto that feeling all the time! Feel and look your best and your healthiest every day of your life. Do you really want to look back at wedding photos and think "well, that was it! I hit my peak and it's all downhill from there!" Don't let a wedding, 10 year reunion, ex-boyfriend/girlfriend, or anything else dictate why you are pursuing healthy living. Let your every day dictate your health and well being. Or let whatever that event/person is, be a motivation to start and keep going. Don't abandon the wellness you created for yourself when it's all over. Like I always say, when you're healthy the direct side effect is that you'll look great too. Just carry that feeling with you always!
As for where I am on my fitness "journey," I just started P90x3 two days ago. It's P90x's newest program that launched in December and it's only 30 minutes a day! I didn't start this program specifically because I'm getting married (although, yes, I most definitely want to feel beautiful and fit on my wedding day) but because personal trainers need trainers, too! I need to shake it up a bit and I'm excited to research something new for myself and my clients. Also, since planning a wedding feels like a part-time job that requires so much attention, 30 minutes a day of intense, focused exercise seems the way to go when my extra time has vanished. Also, ALSO, my dear friend and former college roommate Rosi Reeves--a certified strength and conditioning specialist and the most motivating trainer I know (check out her amazing website here)-- got me excited about P90x's newest program. She started this awesome accountability group via facebook to help a few of us stay on track and check in daily about our workouts. Although I'm usually a lone wolf when it comes to working out, I do love having a community to check in with to help motivate and encourage me on days when I would rather be doing anything but working out. You don't have to join an accountability group to stay on track, either. Something like group fitness classes, signing up for a 5K race, or meeting with a personal trainer (heeeyyyy!) are also wonderful ways to help keep you on track. We can't always do it on our own nor would we want to, so make it a challenge to yourself to find a community, (or start one!) big or small, of fellow fitness encouragers!
Okay, back to wedding stuff and then onto my 3rd day of P90x3. I promise to check in on this blog more often to let you know about my progress and I promise I won't talk wedding too much. Geeze! Stop yelling at me! ;-) BE WELL!!!
