A Kick in the Seat, Please

I’m sitting down this morning to (again) get back on track with my blogging. It seems like just a couple weeks ago that I wrote about how important blogging was to my success and how I was going to get back on track with it. But apparently it was in JULY! Gaaaawwwwwd.
More big changes have occurred in my life which have left me with a wide variety of feelings. Struggling. Aggravated. Frustrated. Hopeful. Capable. Successful.
I have finally made a career change that I have been pursuing since 2008 when I got laid off when the economy tanked. So I retrained in the fitness industry which many of you know. I was working as a wellness coach until October. It’s not a financially gainful industry to be in unless you want to hold multiple jobs and work nearly every day of the week. Perfectly fine as a part time gig, though.
I finally made it on with a local dealership that I have been applying to for at least 8 years. Now I am in a full time in a high stress position as a service advisor. If you’re not sure, that is the person you deal with when you take your car in for service and repair work. I communicate to the technician what your concerns are, and based on their findings, I prepare the repair estimate and present it to the customer. What I do is personally very challenging. It requires high-energy, strong organizational skills, communication, negotiation, calming and conflict resolution skills. And did I mention…it’s stressful?
At that I am doing very well. At my 90 day review I learned that I am getting a raise (moving to commission) which on average should double my income. There is a lot of incentive to keep me growing in my job, and with the company, so I am super happy about this career move.
On the fitness front, I’ve managed to be pretty consistent with my exercise routine since starting the new job exercising at least 3 days a week. I mostly do cardio due to a couple things. First and foremost it’s key for calorie burn, particularly when doing high intensity intervals (HIIT). Secondly, over a year later, I am still recovering from a sciatic condition brought on by a couple of hard falls I took when I slipped in water spilled on laminate floors. Unbeknownst to me, the falls lead to a twisted pelvis and basically a chain reaction of aches, pains and limitations has grown from there. So we work with what we’ve got.
Anyhoo, two other things that I can attribute to the success I experienced when I first started my fitness journey are missing: blogging, and meal planning.
As many of you will agree, reading about others struggles, views and ideas paired with sharing your own is super duper helpful in staying the course. Sharing is caring, as they say. So here I am. I shall make it my mission to post a blog once a week.
Shortly after I started this journey in 2008 I was laid off from my job (which was also in the auto industry). It was the following fall that I made the career change to the fitness industry. But the biggest benefit of that was the time it allowed me to focus on my fitness journey. I blogged, probably 3-4 times a week. And I planned.
Every single bite, even before I ate it, I planned what I would eat. I shopped based on that plan. I cooked everything from scratch. Not only is it healthier, but it took more time and effort.
I planned my activity, not only intentional exercise but activities I could do around the house. For instance, if I was going to be mowing the lawn, I planned it on a day that I knew I wasn’t going to the gym so that I would be getting some sort of physical activity. When I vacuumed, I made sure it included moving furniture, climbing ladders to clean fans, anything that would keep me moving.
I had great success. But that’s the benefit of not having to work, and being able to focus on ME.
Most of that weight I kept off, up and down, but mostly down. Now I’m ready to push it to the next level. And this is where the real journey begins. Because, like most people, I now have a full time, high stress job in the mix. Dialing in the nutrition and getting regular with my blogging are my weak spots right now. So I am going to rely on my Spark family to get me going. What do you say, Spark family? Can you kick me in the pants?