The Shock

Things happen that shock you. Today someone I looked up to as a motivator and inspiration was hit by a train and didn't survive. I had only really been introduced to Greg Plitt 6 months ago when he was the guest speaker at a health and fitness convention I went to in the Gold Coast with one of my best friends last year. We listened to him speak for a good 7 hours. And although everyone listened to the same words, everyone took a different meaning.

For me at the time, my career path was hugely up in the air. I had so many things on the go and was unsure where I was headed. You have nothing to lose. One of the he things he said. More then once. The only way you get injured is if you hesitate. And that was what I was doing. I was hesitating. I didn't trust myself and I most certainly didn't believe in myself. It was time to start backing myself

For my friend, she had had a rough year and this was like her wake up call. It was time for her to stand on her own two feet again, to do he hat she wanted to do, what every she wanted to do and forget about the past. The session got me thinking, but it brought her back to life. 

So as soon as the news broke that he was gone, she was on the phone to me. But I didn't answer. She tried again and I still didn't answer, nor did I answer the three times after that either. Finally I did ring her back and she was devastated. The flame that had light the fire back in her had been put out. She had set her goals for the new year and I got her to tell them to me. This was my wake up call. What if today was your last day? Have you done everything you've wanted to do? Have you lived the best possible life you could have? Have you given your absolute all to everything that matters to you? You control the possibilities. 

Within his talk Greg had said that if he died tomorrow he would be happy. He had lived an amazing life and done everything he had wanted to do. Last year was a big one for me and I believe that I am now living the amazing life that I have wanted for so long now. I have a handle on problems that held me back from this amazing life up until now and I finally have the chance to make my mark. I've just got to do it. If I was to die tomorrow, what would I want to be remembered for? Am I living up to that legacy now? 

I will admit I haven't set my goals for the year yet. I have a few targets I want to meet but I am still letting last year sink in. But one thing I have now that I didn't have last year is the the want to be in the fight. If you died tomorrow, would you be happy with what you've done? You've got nothing to lose. 

2014 - Thanks For The Lessons

Another year done. Every year we say it, but where di the year go? Although the months felt like they flew past, this year I felt like it was a long one. There were many good and bad things that happened but now that I think about it, moving forward you never really remember the ‘bad’ things. You remember the things that brought about change or for you to re-assess your future or your present. But if I think way back to 2013 now (2014 is still too fresh in the memory)what were the ‘bad’ things to happen then? I could not actually tell you a solely ‘bad’ thing. I could tell you some of the challenges I faced which have made me grow and change throughout 2014.

For example 2013 was the year I was finally able to understand and accept that I had an eating disorder and how it as controlling my life. So 2014 was the year to fight it. I was put on a food plan by a nutritionist to start my recovery which I kept swaying on and off of if I’m completely honest, but it was a more healthy way of living then what I had been surviving on up until this point and started the re-wiring that my brain needed to understand that food was a fuel source to do the things I wanted to be able to do, rather than the enemy.

I had to more friends jump in to try and help me. I feel terrible because as a look back now I see how resistant I was to both theirs and professional help, and words cannot describe how thankful I am that these amazing people didn’t let me push them away which would have been the easy option for sure. They were my rocks and although I didn’t like to ask for help, they were always there for me when I did need a bit of reassurance that everything was going to be ok and that I was doing the right thing. One convinced me into getting a psych referral. Actually he pretty much had to do it for me because I went to the appointments and completely froze. I couldn’t talk, let alone get out the reason why we were there. So he filled in the massive blanks. I don’t think I was actually ready for it, but would I ever be? I remember at the time thinking I don’t think this is helping me at all, but I sit here now and compare where I am at now with where I was at this time one year ago and there is no doubt that I am a far more healthier and happier version of me. I have been able to eat out, and in front of other people – mainly friends but the occasional stranger.

I think one of the best things that I could have done was the Frantic Nutrition Challenge. At the start of the challenge I was in shock about how much I was apparently under eating. Seeing the numbers of my current intake, compared to the amount I should be eating for my activity levels was a big reality slap. Given that I almost gave up 3 weeks in and had a few people telling me that this was too much for me to handle right now, I have one person to thank for believing that I had this in me and playing bad cop and getting me to keep going. I hated her tough love at the time, but now I know I wouldn’t be where I am today because of it. Although the volume of food can still be overwhelming at times, I can say that I know the food is fuelling my performance and if I have a day where I don’t eat enough, I can feel the difference. The ‘Challenge’ was 8 weeks long, but the first thing that was said to us was that this was not 8 weeks to abs, or get shredded in 50 days. This was the first day of the rest of our life – here was the plan and you need to stick to it. It was a good 15 weeks for me to be comfortable in this challenge, but the discomfort has been worth it.

Another ‘bad’ thing that happened in 2013, which was what I would have seen it as at the time was that I quit swimming. As the time it literally felt like my life was ending. I could just not get back into that pool one more time. But if I wasn’t Chloe the swimmer then who was I? What defined me? How was I different from everyone else? In 2014 I have learnt that I don’t need to ‘be’ anyone or anything. I don’t need a label and you don’t just have to ‘do’ one thing. Quitting swimming launched me into my fitness journey which has brought some of my best friends into my life and given me some of my biggest challenges. As much as swimming taught me so much about my commitment and dedication, these challenges have shaped my attitude and values far more then following that black line could have in the past year. Although I don’t regret hanging up the goggles for a second, looking back with the nutrition base that I have now, I deeply regret the decisions I made about my food while swimming. I had potential just coming from my ability to push through physical and mental barriers, but I was so heavily let down by the massive restrictions I put on my food that there was no way for me to reach that potential. And I am kicking myself now for that.

Moving into 2014 – what do I see as the ‘bad’ things?

The absolute stand out by far has been my wrist injury. It has held me back from Physio work, from moving into my apartment sooner and from training and competing as I have wanted to. But of couple of the very best things to happen in 2014 have been a direct result of this injury.

-          Perth Elite Chix. I was brought on to this new business four days after coming out of hospital. I had expressed my concern about what I was going to do for income and how I was going to fill the time without going crazy. I jumped straight in with no clue how to run a business but I don’t look back for a second. I share this with three other incredible girls and am so proud and excited of the empowering community of strong women we are creating.

-          Gold Coast. In a round about way. A company we were looking at investing in was holding a conference over there and we were invited to go over and learn more about the company its systems and everything behind it. After putting a lot of thought into the possibilities with this company, I decided that it was not the right time to get into this business as where I am currently I am not completely passionate about it as I am with Elite Chix and would not give it 100%. But what I learnt while away on the trip and the time I got to spend with some pretty awesome people was worth it.

My wrist has by far been the biggest challenge I have faced in 2014 – financially, physically, emotionally and mentally. But it is the biggest challenges which create the best change. Everything happens for a reason.

Standout Achievements of 2014

-          Bought an Apartment. In partnership with my dad. And moved into that apartment one week before Christmas. I remember of the 3^rd of Jan 2014 I was asked where I wanted to be in one year from now. My immediate response was ‘not here, in this house’. At the time I didn’t think that was realistic at all…but here I am!

-          First Half Marathon in 1 hr 39 mins and 18 seconds. I was a part of team Peaking Ducks in the Busselton Half Ironman. A spur of the moment decision made by our swimmer giving me 6 weeks to turn from an occasional 10km runner to a half marathon-er. This incredible team of girls put in a great effort and finished 4^th out of the Female teams!

-          3 vs 3. With my two training partners we went from 0-crossfit in 6 weeks. I went from half marathon runner to crossfitter in 5 weeks. After not being able to get a spot in the beginner competition like we had planned on, I had the genius idea of entering us in the intermediate competition. No problems. Except I didn’t know how to lift a bar. So the most experienced out of the three of us decided to call in the reinforcements…cue Crossfit Frantic. After a world of self-doubt, tears, torn hands and nervous pee, we held our own and didn’t come last. Actually even won a WOD and were adopted into the Frantic Family. And so was the start of a very big part of my life.

-          Perth Elite Chix. From 2014, this is what I am most proud of. I never considered myself to be capable of running a successful business. I never thought I wanted this kind of responsibility or did I have that much passion or drive. Surprise! As I steer further away from Physio, particularly when it wasn’t an option, Elite Chix has kept me sane and given me focus. My business partners are my best friends and the vision and mission we have is life changing for so many people and makes me so excited.

-          Tough Mudder round 2. Done in a trio this year – all were very much unprepared in comparison to last year, but we did it for a laugh and to get our Green Legionnaires Headband. Bring on the Pink!

-          Competed in my first Triathlon. And won it. I swore I would never ride a bike, but I was talked into writing and running a triathlon course for our members, which resulted in me also taking part in the 300m swim, 9km ride and 3km run race in the Women’s Pink Triathlon.

-          Augusta Adventure Race. Back with the Peaking Ducks plus one. Far harder for me as the runner then the half marathon but the team I race with made the scratches and bruises worth it.

-          Crossfit Frantic 24 WOD Challenge. One WOD on the hour every hour for 24 hours. 20 people started at 8 finished to raise $2000 for charity and 315 presents for the K-Mart Whishing Tree Gift Appeal. The challenge was exhausting and stuffed me up for a good week to follow. But persevering with a group of hard working and determined individuals was an experience and you never know what you are capable of until you push out of your comfort zones.

The bad that comes along with the good is a journey. And 2014 has been one hell of a journey. I don’t regret anything from this year and as hard as some of the times have been, something good has come of it and has shaped me into me.

2014 thanks for the lessons. 2015…bring it on

Frantic Goal Crushers Nutrition Challenge

I have been managed by a handful of counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrist, GP’s, nutritionists, dieticians and holistic health medicine professionals in the past 7 years. About three weeks before the Frantic Goal Crushers Nutrition Challenge was due to start, I had fallen into a bit of a rut with overcoming the eating disorder I had been battling for the past 7 years. I had seen the Challenge, read to posts and considered it for a few minutes, before thinking it was going to be too much for me to deal with for where I was mentally at that point of time.

Three days before the start of the challenge I got a message from my training partner who had just realised how far I had fallen.

She promised to do it with me and to help me through it where I needed her. She would check in with me daily to make sure I had met the marcos for the day, she talked and coaxed me into eating dinner while crying for the first three weeks almost every night. She made a deal with me, knowing that meeting the numbers 100% every day for 8 weeks was probably a bit of a big ask for the state I was currently, so if I managed to get myself there on 50/56 days in the 8 weeks, I could buy a pair of Oly’s (crossfit shoes). Nothing like a bit of external motivation to sweeten the deal. The truth is I’m a big girl and really I could buy the Oly’s if I wanted to, but it so much better when you work hard to earn something rather then just buy it straight out.

I had different people in my crowd of health professionals telling me to do different things – this is too much for you to handle at once – you shouldn’t be traumatised to the state of panic and tears trying to get food in. I had others telling me what have you got to lose? If you can push yourself through this for 8 weeks and it doesn’t work for you, you have only lost 8 weeks and you can go back to the way you were surviving after, but to forgo the control I had been so adamant about to someone else’s plan 100%.

Week three was the tough one. Carb’s were continuing to go up and I was going interstate for 4 days. As a part of the issues I have with food, one big one is eating in front of other people. So I was travelling with a group of 7 who were spending every waking moment together for 4 days….this meant breakfast lunch and dinner. My goal going into those four days were less about meeting my marco goal for the day, and just physically being able to eat in front of the people I was with. So as a result I got 4 ‘red days’ as in days I didn’t meet my macro goal because I was just trying to get anything in, even if it was just lettuce. I came home and had to try and get back into the challenge again which was when I almost said it was too much.

My training partner talked me into keep trying, take it one day at a time and got me back on track. A couple of people knew what I was trying to achieve and I got some pretty awesome messages of support throughout the 8 weeks which reminded me, even on the days when I just didn’t think I could do it, to keep pushing and it would be worth it, that my life in the end, is worth it.

This week was the last of the challenge, and as per the start, we had to scan back in…because you can say you’ve done all the right things, but really it’s the scan that doesn’t lie. For me it wasn’t the result of the scan that I was doing it for. I was doing it to try and re-wire my brain to know that it I ok to eat and just how much I do have to eat of maintain the life I live, in a healthy way. Any changes to my body composition would be a bonus. In saying that throughout the past 8 weeks I have lost 3kg in body fat which resulted in a 4% drop in my body fat percentage as well as putting on 0.8kg of lean muscle mass. I knew that seeing the scan result was going to be hard because it just reinforced how screwed up (in the nicest possible way) my perception is in regards to all that stuff. But I need to treat it as a reminder that what I am doing is in my health’s best interest, that an active body like mine does actually require a hell of a lot of food to fuel what I put it through each day. I am unbelievably thankful to my coach – for his incredible support throughout this past 8 weeks and in the ongoing battle that I have to come and for putting the challenge to his members to educate them so well. I am also more than thankful to my training partner, who without her desperate plea for me to try, not much would have changed in the past 8 weeks I would still be in the same rut, barely surviving.

Learning From Those Who Have Succeeded

It is no secret that when it comes to running a business, I am totally clueless. Completely and utterly. Had you have asked me only 6 months ago if I wanted to run my own business, any type of business, it would have been a flat out, straight HELL NO! it just all seemed to complicated, risky and hard for my small little head to handle. 6 months later, here I am - going into running a business with 3 friends...how did that happen?

So when it comes to running a successful business I wouldn't even know where to begin! So I decided to go and learn from those who had done it, done it very well and are considered to be some of the best entrepreneurs in the country (I think it took me all weekend to learn how to even spell entrepreneur, I consider that another success on my behalf!).

I registered for The Entourage's Unconvention. The Entourage is Australia's largest educator and community of entrepreneurs under the age of 40. It team and founding members together run some of the countries most successful businesses and want to share how best to succeed with the other entrepreneurs, giving them the very best chance to have a kick ass business too.

The Unconvention was a free convention that the members tour around the country that involves the founder of The Entourage Jack Delosa, and fellow highly successful business owners tell their story, and share their secrets with anyone willing to listen.

Like I said, business and all things behind it are completely new to me and the way these guys broke some of the lessons down into methods that even I could understand (like writing a system for example - and the purpose, need and structure of these systems) completely blew me away. I would even go as far to say that I am now excited to be in business (!?!?).

Going back to 'how did that happen' which I mentioned above, the last speaker of the day Bradley Smith, founder of Brappp had a messaged that leaped out at me more then anything I had heard throughout the day (and it had been a long day and I'd heard a lot!!) He said

'Sometimes when it's not working, it's working perfectly. Because the world is conspiring to help us'

In my current situation, this is 100% true. More on this at a later date! I can't reveal all my pearls of wisdom at once. So today I am thankful for those who are willing to share, and want others to be as successful as they are.

365

I don't know if you noticed the tag line behind my blog, but it is 365 Days of Being Thankful. I started this blog a year ago with the plan of writing one post a day, finding something I was thankful each and every day.

I started this blog because I was having some days that were totally draining, monotonous and I was really struggling to see the good in each day. So I decided to force myself to find the good. That no matter how terribly my day was going, I would make the effort to find at least one thing in that day that made me smile, made me happy and more importantly, I was thankful for. You see everyone has more in their life to be thankful for then they realise. Such as knowing that the sun is going to come up again tomorrow, having a roof over your head at night, having socks without holes in them or having friends and family around you. And this is what I wanted to find myself.

So I started out on my mission. Every day for a full year, I was to find something, anything, that I was thankful to have seen, heard or experienced in that day no matter how big or small it was. I'm not going to lie, I didn't know whether this would have been something I was going to stick with. I did start out the year by making a book out of it. I had a program on my computer and each day I would take a picture of what I was thankful for and write a quick sentence or two. And as I expected I was getting sick of it very quickly. So how could I make myself more accountable to it? Put it on the web for the world to see. And so the world has seen it (according to my stats, I'm big in Brazil...Hi Brazil!!). This meant I had to keep writing, so I did. I am thrilled to say that this is post number 365. I made it!

Confession time, I am a couple of days out. And the reason for this, is that I missed three days. I didn't get a post up on Christmas Day, on the day I competed in the Three Vs.Three Showdown and the final one was the Saturday just gone. Each of these days, the lack of post has been because I have been out all day and by the time I got home it was late and getting to bed was the only thing on my mind. It's no excuse I know, but I have made it up by going those couple of days extra to make it 365 posts.

Over this past year I have learnt more about myself then I could have ever imagined. What I value and my passions, the people around me and the influence they have in my life. I'm not going to lie since starting this blog it has been an absolute rollercoaster in terms of work, study, life, family and friends, changes, growing up and self growth. And I have documented it all here! It has been amazing to look back at. I have filtered some of my posts a little but you have seen my highs and my lows over this past year which is both scary to me and exciting. So thankyou for sharing the journey with me.

So where to now? This is where I am calling on you. I have had a lot of readers from all corners of the world (yes I can see these things) and I want to know what you think. Do you want me to keep writing, tell me what you have liked and what you haven't. Tell me what you are thankful for. I want to get more people appreciating the smaller things in life.

Tell me what you notice in your day to day life. Post below, email me do what ever you need to do but get you thoughts out there. Today I am thankful for you!

Mondays

Guilty. I use to hate Mondays. I wouldn't say that I hated my job but it definitely didn't make Mondays overly exciting. There were definitely parts of Physio that I loved! I had some awesome clients whose treatment sessions would just make my day and were so entertaining. But there were only a handful of these spread out through my week.

My current work situation is very much different to how it was a month a go. I am no longer working as a Physio due to my post surgical instructions, instead as you all probably know by know, I am co-director of Perth Fit Chix. And can I just say, I am loving this job!! There is always work to be done with this business so it's not like it really stops over the weekend, but Monday signifies the start of a new week of training with our girls, the launching of new ideas, events and posts and educating and inspiring the people of Perth.

I wake up on a Monday morning and am excited to work. Today for example I was planning an upcoming event that we are putting forward to our Fit Chix. Their first triathlon. I have spent the day coming up with training programs, advertising material and organising guest speakers. I have also trekked out to get clothes printed (which with still being unable to drive is more of a task then it seems). Today has been a productive day which I am just as thankful for as having a job that I love so much that Monday's now are just as good as Friday's.

I have always said that I don't want to work a day in my life. I am a big believer that you should love what you do. If you love what you do, you will give it 100% effort 100% of the time. Not because you have to but because you want to! Money has never been a big driver for me. Sure I want to make enough to survive my day to day life, but I am not going to spend my life doing something I hate just to make a heap of money, which in the type of work you need to make this much means you don't have the time or the lifestyle set up to enjoy it. I would rather live and love each day, then one in every five days. But that's just me.

So how was your Monday? Did you spend it doing things you loved?

New Skills

Perth FitChix today put on a Kettlebell Skills Workshop for our member and any Chix in the wider community wanting to learn some new skills or fine tune those their may already have. Our aim behind the event was to provide our members with the knowledge and capabilities of performing more then just a goblet squat or a swing with the kettlebells as they are such a versatile piece of equipment that give a whole body workout without even realising.

After a quick warm up we launched it off with Turkish Get Ups, the sequencing posed a challenge for some, but balancing the shoe on their fist as they got up was the one that got them all. Swings became second nature to them so we added in one arm, and alternating swings followed by renegade rows, into push ups and burpee dead lifts.

We went through clean, racking the bells, presses and snatches all before putting them through a final 5x5x5 workout. The workout was explained to the girls and sounded very simple. By the time their got to round three the faces on them all had changed and they realised just how brutal the bells can be. The girls who came along to the event worked hard. We threw a lot of content at them and they picked most of it up like they have been doing it for months! Can't wait to throw what they have learnt into the classes they have to come!