Unstoppable.

I’ve done a lot of things in my life I’m both proud and not proud of.

We all have failures and successes. I put myself through grad school while working full time and came out the other end with two masters degrees and no debt. It took almost ten years, but I still did it. Despite not needing a college degree for my current job, it’s still something I am incredibly proud of. Those years of going through grad school taught me more than what was in the books I studied or the papers I wrote.

 When I bought my first house at 29 and took on a roommate, I had people question me as to why I would do that or to be careful not to get in over my head and spend more money than I had. I always had a plan. Taking on a roommate led to paying for renovating that house and later renting it out and starting a real estate investment portfolio that I am also proud of. It has also helped me help others do the same thing and lead me to my passion and career as a real estate broker. 

 I wasn’t someone who would talk about my thought process out loud until I was ready to pull the trigger. Many saw a lot of my choices as shooting from the hip or impulsive (including my parents. I would always get a secret kick out of the shock value with them. Sadly, that has worn off, because nothing I do anymore seems to surprise them). In reality, I think things through and strategize more than people realize. 

My freshman year in college, I was on the crew team. This started my love of going to the gym and lifting. Shortly after college, probably when I was 23 or so, I was in the locker room at my gym. A woman approached me and asked if I had ever thought about doing a bodybuilding competition because I had the musculature for it. It took me by surprise and no, I had not thought about it, but that woman planted a seed. In the years to follow, I had other friends who I saw train and compete and watched the process they endured. I was fascinated and always in awe. I thought “wow, I could never do that.” 

Fast forward more than ten years, I was on my honeymoon with my now ex-husband and had had a few drinks. I started talking about bodybuilding and he asked me “why not? you always talk about it.”

So, I quietly started seeing a trainer and training. I told very few people. I didn’t tell a lot of people for a few reasons: It’s weird, I didn’t think people would understand and I didn’t want to deal with the judgment or trying to explain why. Also, I really wasn’t sure if I was going to make it to the finish line and having that added pressure of people knowing I couldn’t do it on top of needing to focus was a little too much. 

Three months of the most focused I had ever been in my entire life with a rigorous schedule of working out, eating a very exact and specific diet and not paying attention to outside noise (in addition to working a full time job and all of other of life’s challenges) was a gamechanger on so many levels. 

Like the process of grad school, training for this competition taught me so much more than bodybuilding. It taught me how to go inward and keep my eye on the prize and not pay attention to outside opinions.  And that’s exactly what I did. I made it to competition day: spray tan, sparkly bikini and all. The day of the competition, I decided to share the photos on social media because I had never worked harder for anything in my life. And I was proud of what I accomplished. This was significantly more of a mental battle than physical and to me, that was the appeal.  It taught me that whatever I put my mind to, I could do it.

Just to test that theory, a year later, I did it again. This time, I decided to be a little more public with my training. I figured if I had already competed once, I wouldn’t be subjected to as much ridicule, people would take me seriously and some would actually like to come along on the journey. 
I ended up winning the competition and received my Pro Card. It was a glorious victory and I basked in the achievement. This wasn’t something you could cheat at. And the fact that I could do it not just once, but twice was a game changer for me. This was the ultimate definition of manifestation, which I didn’t realize at the time, but in hindsight, it makes me smile. 

Where your focus goes, energy flows.

Fast forward three years to now and a year of a pandemic I so badly want to compete again. I turn 40 this year and all I can think is what a kickass way to enter into a new decade. I’ve touted all about shutting down excuses and the only thing that stands in your way is your own bullshit excuses – which I still believe.

Some days I get frustrated with myself, because it’s hard to conjure up the motivation when you have a million other things going on, eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch for dinner, and the thought of that kind of training is exhausting. 

So I look at this picture for motivation because this woman was not just rocking a hot bod, she had the focus and determination unlike anything I’ve ever encountered and she was unstoppable.

So whether or not I do compete this year, the plan is to be unstoppable.