My Theme Song(s)

It's no secret that music moves the soul.  It motivates.  It empowers.  It rocks!

Today FitFluential invited us to share our favorite theme song.  Well... I gotta a few cause cause that's just how I roll. 

Face the Pain by Stemme is my favorite weight lifting song.  When you're throwing weights and putting tears in your muscle fibers, IT HURTS!  It's PAINful.  So each time I hear "No escape can you step to this" I think "Hecks yea I can!"  Plus the beat is ridiculous!  I can't hear it and not work my ass off!  (tee hee!  gotta luv a double negative!)

Face the Pain - Stemme

Face the pain, no escape can you step to this
Face the pain, Face the pain, It's ripping me into pieces
Face the pain, no escape can you step to this
Face the pain, Face the pain, It's ripping me into pieces

(For full lyrics, please click the link on the video) 

Now I gotta show my girl Kelly Clarkson some love too.  Her song, Stronger is my ultimate motivator when I'm doing my HIIT (high intensity interval training).  I have a tendancy to play this one when I have to do pullups too.  It gets me thru just about anything.

So, I have one more song up my sleeve.  It's the song I use for my visulization, my cool downs and sometimes I put it on repeat play and listen to it over and over because it resonates so strongly with me. Came to Win by Nicki Minaj featuring Rhianna.

Do you have a theme song?  What tune plays in your head when you need it most? 

Roughly Wrapped Gifts

Yesterday, I discovered someone very special, Lisa Nichols.  She is AMAZING!  She is a life changer, a shaker-upper, an authentic champion.  I want to share with you what I "got" from one of her talks (see link above, please).  This is just my personal take on what she had to say.  You should listen to what she has to say for yourself and take from it what you need to apply to your life.  So without further ado, I present to you:

Roughly Wrapped Gifts

"Some motivation comes wrapped in sandpaper!"  (Lisa Nichols said that, not me.  I wish I had said it, but I didn't.) BUT here's what I have to say about that:  we fitness buffs know all about that.  Think about what it takes to really build the physique of your dreams.  Blood, sweat, tears.  We lift weights til we can't muster another rep.  We do cardio til our lungs burn.  We frequently eat things that "normal" people think are boring and tasteless over and over.  We drink water from gallon jugs and "pass" when our friends have a martini or a glass of wine.  These things make up the very fibers of the sandpaper that wraps our motivation; our dream physique.  Can I get a "Yes, YES!"?  (Lisa said that too.)  Lifting weights til our muscles burn is the sandpaper wrapping our motivation!  Running just one more cycle of HIIT before we jump off the treadmill is the sandpaper wrapping our motivation!  Eating what's healthy and wholesome while our friends have "cake" is the sandpaper that wraps our motivation!  The gallon jug of water????? Yup!  Sandpaper wrapping our motivation!!!!!  

Now-- there's something about sandpaper that I want to bring to your attention.  After a while, after you've used it a few times, it loses it's roughness!  Hmmmmmmm, did you hear that?  Sandpaper loses it's roughness!  It becomes smooth!  The grit wears down!  No matter how rough that paper starts out, once you've used it enough, it gets smooth!  EUREKA!!!  What am I so excited about?  What does this mean for you?  It means that as we  continue to unwrap our motivation (our dream physique) it will become easier.  The sandpaper will become soft and worn and we will be able to preserver with greatness.  We will adjust to and even begin to enjoy unwrapping our gift(s).  Someday, it won't be so rough.  

I am actually getting there.  To the point where if I don't exercise I get a headache.  If I don't drink my water, I get dizzy.  If I eat junk, I feel like junk.  My sandpaper is losing it's grit, this is becoming a way of life.  You know, it's almost as though the grit transfers from the sandpaper to us!  As we wear out the paper and become stronger we take on the grit of the paper!  It begins to protect us, strengthen us, reinforce us.  

So, what motivates you?  What are you trying to unwrap?  

How's your sandpaper, still rough or starting to smooth out?  

Where are you in your motivational journey?

Happy Friday, dear reader!

Says Who?!?

I'm on my soapbox again.  I kinda like it here.  ;)

I want to tell you that you can accomplish whatever you really set your heart to.  There will always be doubters, those who just can't conceive the level of greatness that you are capeable of.  They can't see themselves being great and this clouds their view of everyone else's abilities.  They think that being average is just normal.  That is sad.  Very sad.

Who says that you can't lose those last few pounds?  Who says that you can't get your degree and land your dream job?  WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING YOU SET YOUR HEART TO???

You might actually have an answer to that question.  There might be someone in your life who says that you'll never reach your goals.  There might be someone toxic who just can't see past the end of their own nose.  If this is the case, I am so sorry.  All you can do is love them and pray for them.  Meanwhile, you HAVE to decide that they are entitled to their opinion but you have an opinion too.  And your opinion is that you WILL succeed!  You can do all things thru Christ who strengthens you! (Philipians 4:13) 

In the end the only one who has any real control over what you accomplish is you!  So pull yourself up by your bootstraps and make the choice to succeed.  You can do it!

Happy Tuesday, dear reader!