I put a pic up on Instagram yesterday and felt that I didn’t do a good enough job of capturing everything about it / behind posting it, so hopefully this gives me enough freedom to explain. Sometimes we go “off schedule” and feel the effects of it for days afterwards, this was one of those times.

We were gone all weekend – left town on Friday afternoon and didn’t get back until late Sunday night (basically at our usual bed time). The weekend was amazing, we had a lot of fun at the competition and then the Nicole Wilkins seminar was great. We got to see a lot of our “fitfam” which is always a benefit. Also, training at two different gyms was a nice change of pace. I could leave it at that, but that’s not the full picture. Yes, things were awesome and the trip was worth every sleepless minute, but it set me up for a struggle on Monday morning.

The weekend started off sleep deprived as we were up late on Thursday packing our food and luggage, then got up early on Friday to be at work ASAP. Each night we were up later than usual and still woke up fairly early for the jam-packed days. We got home after 9pm on Sunday, had to unpack and wash the millions of containers from our food and get everything ready for the gym in the morning.  Not going to lie, I had strongly considered not getting up for the gym – I had the perfect excuse right?  I was tired, it was a long, busy weekend, and I should save my energy to teach Step on Monday night. I knew that if I skipped my training session, I’d only have to squeeze it in later in the week or I’d feel disappointed. Soooo, the alarm went off at 4:10 and I was NOT a happy camper.

I was even less happy when I got to the bathroom and saw my reflection in the mirror. To put it nicely, I looked like a bar-star who had been out until 2am, drinking straight tequila, and went to bed with all my makeup on.  My face was puffy, my hair was out of control, and my makeup had become some solid racoon eyes (yes, I went to bed with it all on – it’s a terrible habit of mine). Why was I in such rough shape?  We ate at restaurants a couple times over the weekend – which was expected – and stopped for dinner at a service station on the way home. All the extra sodium paired with the complete lack of sleep had done me no favours. I wanted to cry… and stay hidden for the day.

This could have been my 4am selfie… LOL. Ok, that’s terrifying and I’m now ashamed.

I knew that wasn’t possible, so I cleaned myself up, threw on a hat, and put on my most flattering gym clothes. I don’t know if it was all the junk food I had over the weekend (the extra carbs and salt) or what, but I had the best arm workout I’ve had in months. I was pleasantly surprised with how I looked (once the pump hit, obviously), especially after feeling like a bloated, hot mess when I got out of bed, so I snapped a picture in the change room. This picture changed my whole outlook and attitude towards the day for the better. I felt proud, positive, and energized. If a simple picture can change your day for the better – TAKE IT! Side note – I feel totally selfie-challenged.  I see so many amazing selfies on Instagram and then I take my own and think, “How does everyone else do this so well??” So, when I manage to take one that looks as good as I feel, you can bet I’m going to post it.

I should memorize this exact place in the change room for future pictures.

What’s the point of this rant?

1. I nearly skipped the workout because I’d almost talked myself out of it – giving every reason I could think of as to why I shouldn’t go. But I ignored it, pushed myself to go, and definitely benefited from it. Don’t let your mind talk you out of doing something! Whether it’s getting started on a new goal, dragging your sorry butt to the gym, or just getting those last few reps or sets in. Even if it’s not the most successful thing you do all day, you’ll be glad you pushed yourself to do it. You’ll never regret the effort you put into something.
2. I’m human too. I have days where I struggle to do my usual routine, hate how I look, eat fun food and pay for it afterwards. I never want to paint this picture that my life is perfect in any way, because it’s far from it.
3. Final lesson – make the time to take your makeup off before bed…