Happy Sunday! I wanted to share a little inspiration to get your week started with a positive and optimistic outlook. “Chasing your dream” is much easier said than done. Especially, when you’re at a crossroads in your life and the opportunity cost of fully pursuing your dream is high.
In recent years, I’ve develop my own dream of opening fitness studio in Dallas. Each time I take a few steps forward, I take 3 or 4 steps back because my fears kick in. I often think to myself “I won’t make as much money,” “there are too many competitors,” “can I do this all by myself?”
I found this great article on Forbes.com that really hit home and gave me a little push to quit wallowing in my fears…
The 5 Way s to Overcome the Fear of Chasing Your Dream
By Steven Berglas at Forbes (click the link to read the full article)
Your fear of taking action is a result of watching yourself fail to act–not the other way around.
Your fear of losing a paycheck is exaggerated.
Your fear of launching a start-up stems from knowing someone whose new venture fell flatter than a crepe.
You won’t sacrifice a paycheck because it would be “wrong, reckless, irresponsible, etc.”
No one daydreams while watching a Super Bowl game that goes into the fourth quarter with the score tied.
I hope these 5 tips give you the same inspirational kick they gave me. In the near future I expect that my blog posts and your comments will reflect that we finally ditched the fear and went for it! Be on the look out. A Grit by Brit Fitness studio could open soon near you (wink wink)! Send me your positive vibes and I’ll send you mine. Have a wonderful week! xoxo, Brit
What’s your dream? How will you more actively pursue it?
Happy Hump Day gang! As I sit in my home office enjoying my week of vacation, I started a stream of consciousness of thoughts/statements that I absolutely hate to hear. So, I wanted to write a post to reject each and every one of them…
My best days are behind me – Gritty people believe that the best is always yet to come. If we can’t hope for a brighter and better future, what’s the point of working hard? Or waking up every day?
My dreams don’t matter – Our dreams are unique. They drive our passions and ultimately our purpose in life. Gritty people value their dreams and pursue them.
I’ve reached my limit – We have no limits! We are only limited by our minds and the restrictions that we put on ourselves. Gritty people continuously work harder, dream bigger and expect more out of life.
I’m cursed – None of us are cursed! In fact, believing that we are cursed will actually bring about bad situations. Suffering is a fundamental part of the human experience, but in the grand scheme of things, good always outweighs bad. Gritty people strive to stay positive!
I’m not supposed to be happy – All of us are given the gift of life and have duty to live life abundantly. That means we are supposed to experience joy, peace, service, happiness and purpose. Why even live if we are doomed for gloom? You are supposed to be happy – gritty people accept this truth!
I’m weak – This is one of the most powerful lies that can ruin your whole life if you start to believe it. Gritty people know that they are powerful beyond measure. You are so much stronger than you think!
This is as good as it gets – When we start to accept this thought, we are likely to settle for less than optimal circumstances. Now I’m not saying that we should never experience bad times, but we must always believe that we can make situations better with hard work, faith and confidence.
What he/she did is unforgivable – EVERYTHING is forgivable. Gritty people understand that holding a grudge is like “drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” – Buddha
I have no control over this situation – While we can’t control all of life’s circumstances, we can always control how we respond. Our responses to situations have so much influence on the outcomes. Gritty people take control of their lives.
I am the victim – Gritty people accept responsibility for themselves and for their happiness. Despite wrong doings by others, gritty people refuse to be the victim. Victims are weak. Weak is not a good look.
I know each of you are gritty already, so help spread these powerful truths to those you love.
Calimera! Wishing you a very Happy and Inspiring Easter Sunday. I hope you enjoy celebrating this glorious day with your friends and family. Also, I want to announce the winner of the Sporteer Running Armband = Nkoyo. CONGRATS! Please email me your mailing address at [email protected]. xoxo, Brit
“The story of Easter is the story of God’s wonderful window of divine surprise.” – Carl Knudsen
Happy Monday! No matter what you are going through, keep your head held high, be strong and keep pushing forward. You never know how close your are to reaching your reward! Wishing you a wonderful week. Lots of luv, Brit
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
At my high school, in the lovely town of Mesquite, TX, you had to run a mile in 8 minutes or less to be on ANY sports team at ANY level (Freshman, JV or Varsity). No matter how talented or skilled of an athlete you were, no 8 minute mile = no spot on the team. So let me give you a little background as to why the 8 minute mile requirement, to this day, is the most stressful personal challenge I have ever confronted…
Me in 5th grade, my 2nd year playing organized basketball. Of course my mom made sure the entire team had matching hair bows 😉
At the start of 7th grade I weighed about 165 pounds and wore a size 14 in women’s clothing (see pic below). BUT, I still LOVED sports! Luckily, I landed a spot on the 7th grade girls basketball B-team- YAY! On the first day of practice, I ate my usual ham and cheese Hot Pocket for breakfast. This was also the first time, in my life, that I ever ran (mostly walked) a full mile. HOWEVER, I did finish that mile in 11 minutes and 55 seconds. As soon as I crossed the finished line I puked that entire Hot Pocket right in front of all of the 8th graders. Long story short, my middle school years were definitely not my best.
On pee-wee drill team right before 7th grade, although there was nothing “pee-wee” about me…
After a year of puking, stressing about conditioning workouts and just trying to fit in, I actually saw progress. On the last of day practice that 7th grade season, our coach made us run the mile again. This time I finished in 9 minutes and 6 seconds – WOO HOO! BUT, my world was crushed when the high school coaches came to visit on the last day of middle school. During their high school preparation speech, they broke the news about the 8 minute mile requirement. At that very moment, my world fell apart. I mean, seriously, did they realize how much torture I had to endure just to get down to 9 minutes and 6 seconds? I was officially in panic mode.
My 8th grade yearbook picture, 1997
All summer I ran and prayed and ran and prayed in hopes that I would be able to run the 8 minute mile on August 16th. My mom even put me on the prayer list at church; I think she was just as nervous as me. This was also the summer that my dad and I established a special bond which still holds today. He would run with me in the blazing Texas heat and always encourage me. “Hard work ALWAYS pays off,” he’d say. The week before the official high school timed mile test, he and I did a trial run. I was feeling good and ran my butt off! But the minute I crossed the finished line my dad shouted out, “8:15 – almost sweetheart, you’re just 15 seconds away.” At that point, I literally broke down and cried. What more could I do? I ran every day and pushed myself to the limit yet still had not reached my goal…
Finally, the big day came. I was so nervous I could hardly sleep the night before. I wanted be on the high school basketball and volleyball teams SO very badly and had actually become pretty good at both sports. The 8 minute mile was the only thing standing in my way. As we all walked up to the starting line, I said a prayer and took a deep breath. When coach yelled, “GO” I ran as fast as I possibly could. It was like something came over me. The only thing I could think was, “just don’t slow down, just don’t slow down.” Finally, I rounded the last curve and thought to myself “SPRINT!” That’s exactly what I did. When I crossed the finish line coach hollered out “7:56”! I broke down and cried, the same way I did during my trial run, only this time they were tears of joy! My teammates couldn’t understand why making the 8 minute mile meant so much to me, but it was the first time in my life that I truly understood my own strength. This accomplishment marked a new phase of self-confidence and personal pride that I still hold at 27 years old.
After making the JV basketball team my Freshman year, 1999 = PROGRESS!
I went on to have a successful high school athletic career earning 1st team all district honors in both basketball and volleyball. I even went on to play basketball at the NCAA Division 1 college level for 4 years. I was co-captain of my college basketball team at Cornell University and made the Big Red Power Wall of Honor for 2 consecutive years. The wall of honor is for the top 2 athletes on each varsity team who ranked the highest in a variety of strength and conditioning tests. Who would have ever thought my name would be on that wall? Definitely not me!
Senior year of high school, 2002
So, from a size 14 , 11:55 mile running, 7th grade “B” team basketball player, I’m telling you, there is NO SUCH THING AS IMPOSSIBLE!
Cornell vs. Army 2004 – my Junior year of college
“What is impossible with men is possible with God.'”
