How SWEAT became the catalyst for me to find my passion and live my truth

Fat Talk:  How sweat became the catalyst to find my passion and live my truth.

Hiding behind the fat...

Do you recognize the person in these pictures? Her name is Amber. She seems happy in these pictures doesnʼt she? Look, she is even smiling.... all surface. Deep down, behind the smiles, behind the laughter was the woman standing here today hidden under 100 pounds of excess fat desperate be unleashed and un-armored to find her passion and live her truth. So how does this girl.....

From this.... To this...

How?

....Become this woman.... and what does sweat have to do with any of this?

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

-Lao Tzu

First.  I was miserable and I knew I needed to change.  So I set out on a journey to find myself..and I did so one step at a time....

On my journey, this was my map...

My road map was a list of my goals and with these goals as my roap map I  slowly put one foot in front of the other and began taking small steps to change.  ...but it was easy. And there were times when I felt like a total failure.

“You’ve got this, no problem…it’s only one mile.”

I distinctly remember setting out in the summer of 2007 to run one mile, thinking “you’ve got this, no problem...its one little mile.”  and then I distinctly remember the feeling of defeat when I sat on the side of the road with the Oklahoma heat beating down on me--unable to distinguish the tears rolling down my face from the sweat that also pouring off my body  when I realized I was so fat and out of shape that I couldn’t even run 400 yards

Next...

Oddly enough, it was the sweat that poured off my body that day that became the fuel that would propel me to the next part of my journey.

Over the next few months I lived in the gym. 

I worked out with intention, joined JillianMichaels.com, an online weight loss community, finished two 5K’s while still weighing more than 200 pounds, met a trainer in Oklahoma City named Landon who took my fitness level to new heights and supported me in my journey and continued losing weight one pound at a time.

I even won an essay contest and was flown to LA to train with America’s leading wellness expert and prime time television star, Jillian Michaels.

It was during this workout with Jillian Michaels where I had a major epiphany....not about fitness, but about life.  As she beat me in only the way Jillian can hand a beating to someone and they actually enjoy it (I know.....sadist sounding huh?) and the more  the sweat poured off my body, the stronger and more empowered I felt inside.

“This is where CHANGE happens”

Then, just as the workout was nearing its end, when my legs surely must have looked like jello because they certainly felt that way is when she said something to me that I will never forget.  she said this to me.  “Amber,  finish this.  you are tired and exhausted and I need you to dig deep and find it.  Run. Through. This. Pain.  What is two minutes of pain over a lifetime...it’s nothing.  This is where change happens.  When you are at your weakest and you feel like giving up, dig deep and push through the pain and finish strong.”  

AH-HA!

 At that moment I finally got it.  I finally figured out the connection....the transformative moment where I finally understood that fitness for me, was more than burning calories and more than simply getting skinny.  Sweat was literally transforming my mind and preparing me for much greater moments in the weeks, months and years to come.  

Three years later, I am still sweating...both literally and figuratively.  I still feel pain every day and I still push through it.  i recently made the difficult decision to quit my job as a political operative and communications director for the Oklahoma State Senate to hopefully make other people sweat and perhaps help them find that thing that for them is their catalyst to find their passion and live their truth.  And as I wrangled with that decision and questioned if it was the right thing to do, in the back of my mind flashed the the pictures from my journey that brought me to this moment and chiefly the lesson I learned on that treadmill in Hollywood with that crazy TV trainer sitting next to me as Sweat poured off my body. Painful.... yes.  Worth it....Absolutely.

...more than just a “skinny girl” success

story.

I wanted to be...

So what started out as one single step to get skinny and maybe find myself turned out to be so much more and that cataylst in my journey was all about SWEAT.

Sweat [swet]verb• to manipulate or produce by hard work or drudgery.

The textbook definition of Sweat is to manipulate or produce by hard work or drudgery.

Before After

The textbook definition of Sweat is to manipulate or produce by hard work or drudgery.

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

-Henry David Thoreau

This is one of my all time faves:  “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

What is going to be your catalyst to find your passion

and live your truth????

Will it be SWEAT?

ask audience to think about what their own catalyst will be....

Text

You have the power. Sweat it out.

www.sweatokc.com

Sweat OKC where our motto is simple You have the Power. Sweat it out.

FFo

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