In the past, stress has been my killer. It's been my catalyst for "well, you dealt with this today, so you deserve the world's most ridiculous food treat!" It's been my reason not to workout. It's been my reason to just ... not. I always used it as my crutch.

Yes, my life has a ton of irreversible stressors (I'm a teacher, I teach two inclusion classes, I have two color guards, five days of rehearsal with them, plus show weekends, plus an out-of-state trip coming up, plus attempting to maintain my sanity with my financial situation ...), but I've found in the past month of working out that *gasp!* stress can actually motivate me to DO better and to BE better.

Now, I look forward to my hour in the morning. Do I sweat? Oh yeah. Does it hurt? Generally speaking. Is it always comfortable? Hardly. But that hour is MY hour. My 60 minutes of peace and quiet away from my cell phone, away from my kids, away from anyone who isn't in that same spot aiming for the same goals I have ... And it's a motivator.

I think now I'm going to start using my stress and my exhaustion as fuel ... As odd as that sounds. Because quite frankly, I am tired of the excuses, and I am tired of every reason to NOT be motivated. Why can't I just motivate myself ALL THE TIME?!

Ya know? :)