Are You Reaching Your Max Potential?
Are you really reaching your maximum potential? What does that even mean? How do I even know if I am reaching my max potential?
If you aren’t sure what your max potential is or what that entails then I encourage you to keep reading. In my blog posts I like to give a little more detail and insight about my journey and my life as I hope you can take something away from what I say and apply it to your journey.
If you look closely at the photo you will notice that the girl in orange is me. I clean up nicely don’t I ????. This photo was taken a few years back from a figure competition that I did. I have always wanted to compete since I started my journey back in 2011, but I was always afraid. I was afraid that I wouldn’t get lean enough, I was afraid I couldn’t push myself hard enough, I was afraid of how I would compare to everyone else, I was afraid of, well everything about it. While this entire blog wont be about my show prep journey, I do have to say this was the first time I finally did something for me and finally pushed myself outside of my comfort zone. And let me tell you what, this was the biggest and best thing I could have ever done! It opened my eyes to my life, my fitness levels, my nutrition, my beliefs, what mattered & what didn’t, and most of all it let me see the true potential in myself for the first time.
What a lot of people don’t know is the summer before my competition my husband and I accidentally got pregnant. We have always had fertility problems and so the thought of getting pregnant naturally was never even a consideration. Well as time went on and we were over the shock of being pregnant and having another baby around I got a call from the doctor saying my labs were off and I needed to go for an emergency ultrasound. Now I am not a doctor, but I have been through this before and I know that this is never a good news. Sure enough I had an blighted ovum. AKA an empty sac because I had a miscarriage, but my body it didn’t realize that there wasn’t an actual baby in the sac anymore. Therefore, it kept producing hormones and kept me thinking I was pregnant when I wasn’t. Long story short we were crushed. Although we knew that God had other plans for us and we weren’t made to be a family of 6 it was still heart breaking. The emotions I went through (partially because my hormones were all screwed and partially because of the loss) were really hard. During the next few months I did a lot of soul searching and thinking about what I really wanted in life and who I wanted to be. What came of those thoughts (with a lot of counseling as well) was that I needed to step outside my comfort zone and do something I would never think I would do. Hence, why I decided to compete.
Stepping outside of my comfort zone changed my mindset for the rest of my life. See when you hold back and always stay inside your comfort zone you aren’t able to push past the hurt, pain, fear and reach your true potential. And this is where the magic is made, I promise you. This is where you breakdown and cry from fear and yet keep moving forward and reach new heights. Now here’s the thing about that comfort zone. You always have to keep pushing just outside of it to keep moving forward.
As you may know from my social media posts I have been on a huge adventure this summer. While some of you reading this will say oh cool trip, you don’t realize why this trip is so significant to reaching my max potential again. See I have this huge fear of traveling. I don’t like going places I have never been, I always worry about the food (because of my celiacs I can’t eat just anything), I hate flying (mostly because I get super sick, but also how high we are in the sky), I am worried that other cultures wont accept me because I am a foreigner, and most of all I am worried about traveling alone as I have watched way too many episodes of Criminal Minds. Now some of you will think I’m crazy and will not understand why I am this way and some of you will totally relate with me. Either way these are my fears. These fears come from outside my comfort zone and I do everything in my power to not be in these situations.
When I found out that I needed to be in England for a business training I was super excited. However, I was super scared because of all the mentioned above things. I talked with my hubby who totally encouraged me to do the trip and then said he would meet me there after my business trip and we could spend some one on one time together in London. Now that made all those fears worth overcoming. As we talked more and more and plans were starting to get finalized my hubby made the comment about me coming back with him to Portugal where he is stationed after we visited London. While I was scared poopless, I still said yes. Now you would think with all those fears I had I would have had everything figured out. I would know where I’m going, what food I could get my hands on, the airport layout, places to see and how to get there. But, nope I did nothing. I decided that this was a learning experience for me and that I needed to be able to step outside my comfort zone again to reach my max potential.
See in life and even in fitness and nutrition it’s never about all or nothing. It’s never about just the food or just the workouts or even both combined. It’s about the entire body as whole. To include your mind. Your brain is a powerful tool and it can help you or hold you back depending on how you use it. While I did book hotel rooms (although the one I didn’t even book until like 5 days before), the rest I just winged. I trusted the process, I trusted that I would find food, I would figure out where I needed to be, I would step outside my comfort zone and it would be ok and I would come out a better person with more insights than ever before.
While some parts of my trip were really stressful as I had to lug a 70lbs bag from terminal to terminal, take a subway, board a train, board a bus and then catch a cab, it has been amazing so far. My husband was even able to get me to walk up 312 stairs to the top of the London Monument and not only stand at the top, but also look out. I also have an extreme fear of heights (there is a reason I have never been to Mackinaw as I can’t cross the bridge). I was able to climb London Tower and look down through the glass to the bottom. Although, I will say that I wasn’t able to stand on the glass (maybe next time), I still made it up there. I am now sitting on a small island in Portugal writing this blog. My husband lives off base in a house were none of the neighbors speak English. When we go places you have to guess what everything says. Every once in a while you will find someone who speaks English, but it’s not common here. I have learned more about culture than I ever have in school and I have learned so much about myself as well.
The point is this…. If you always do what you’ve always done you will always get the same results. Elbert Einstein said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. It is our human nature to stay inside our comfort zone, to not reach pass that point of uncomfortable. However, if you never reach past it you will never know what you are capable of or what you are missing! I know this post is a little different than my other posts, but I have been diving deep into what matters and what I want to provide to you as my follower. I want to let you know it’s ok to be scared of the unknown. However, trust the process and trust yourself and know that you can push past it and you will get through it and then you will excel to your max potential.
I challenge you to find one thing that is outside your comfort zone and do it! It can be as big or as little of a step as long as you are stepping outside that comfort zone. Some people think joining a gym is a big deal, then go join a gym, some people think that committing to a workout program is a big deal, then join a workout program, some think that getting on a plane is a big deal, then get on a plane, climb a sky scraper and look out, just do something. You are good enough right now and you don’t need to change. However, to grow and move forward you need to take that big step outside your comfort zone. Once you have taken the step outside your comfort zone. Take a picture and tag me in it, or email me and let me know what it was that you did! I love seeing change and I love seeing the growth in people.
The Journey Is Yours, You Just Need To Leap!
Krissy