Staying the Course

It's now been more than 11 weeks since the Emerald Cup and I am still fighting to get back to normal. It's been an extremely frustrating process and patience, is not one of my virtues, so that makes it even more challenging for me, mentally. When I want something, I want it now, right now!! This whole process has been a good learning experience for me. A lesson in patience, for sure. It's given me a good long time to evaluate what's important to me in life, in training and in competition. However...

ENOUGH ALREADY!!! I GET IT!!! LESSON LEARNED!!! CAN WE GET ON WITH IT NOW???

Geesh!! I was doing my cardio this morning, sweating buckets, doing what I need to do, working my plan and I got mad and frustrated. I'm doing everything right, I'm eating what I should be, training as I should be, sleeping well, etc. And after that moment of anger and frustration passed I was able to take a deep breath (okay, maybe not so deep, I was cranking on the cardio, after all) and chill. Work the plan. Stay the course. I know I am on the right track. I know I am working the right plan. Now it's time for me to practice doing something I'm not very good at...Patience.

I will not give up. I will not ditch the plan. I WILL stay this course. I don't think I'm much different from most people in that I, too, want instant gratification. I'd like to finish off my morning cardio and have a pile of body fat sitting beside the machine. Hey, is that too much to ask for? Okay, maybe it is. While the body is very resilient to the stresses we place on it, once it's damaged, it takes time to repair and become healthy and fully functioning again.

In addition to nursing my adrenal system back to health, I'm also trying to get my digestive tract functioning without the aid of Cleanse & Lean. I took the stuff for more than 8 consecutive weeks. I couldn't go without it. It's now been 2 1//2 weeks without it and it's not been easy getting my body to function on its own. It's tempting some days to "just take one" to move things along, but I know that will just prolong the recovery process. It's easy to want the quick fix, the instant gratification, but from what I've learned the price of the quick fix is just too high.

And so, I am staying the course. Practicing patience all the way.

"The two most powerful warriors are PATIENCE and TIME." ~Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy