To all things, there is a season... tax season, that is. I am the proud recipient of a Certification of Public Accounting from the Texas State Board. Along with that honor comes great responsibility. Who am I kidding?? Along with that honor comes a massive workload! I have literally been working 7 days a week for the past couple months and am a mere day away from the end! One thing that is different this year than in any of my previous tax seasons, I am in better shape at the end of it than I was at the beginning. How did this all happen when I have been sitting in a chair for 12 hours a day? A promise to myself that I wouldn't let the stress and demands of my job and life get in the way of what I really wanted. I woke most mornings and headed to the gym before the rising of the sun. Then, I left from work after the sun had gone down and returned once more to leave my stresses of the day on the gym floor.
Through these past couple of months, I have learned many things. The importance of accountability to yourself, motivation and balance. The trouble I have encountered in past busy seasons at work were directly related to my stress levels. The old me would not only bury my feelings in a 100 calorie pack of mini-oreos (don't mind the fact that I would scarf down 3 at a time) but would finish off a hard day with some much needed wine. The first problem is, these stressful days last for two months straight. The second problem is that food doesn't really ease my tension, it only masks it for a while. My consistent exercise throughout this season directly resulted in a calmer work and home environment and a healthier outlook in general.
Accountability- I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't miss a single day of some kind of exercise. It didn't matter how long my day had been or how lazy I was. I knew deep down that I could muster 20 minutes for a jog or even 10 minutes for some plyometrics in my garage. Because I was honest with myself and wouldn't allow any excuses, I was able to hold strong to the commitment that I had made.
Motivation- Everyone needs something that motivates them. For me, it's always been about competition. I'm a competitor at heart. What works best for me is to find someone (it doesn't matter if you know them or not) whom you admire. It could be admiration of their figure, their workout regimen, their eating habits, their attitude. There's no formula for what motivates someone, you just have to find it yourself. When you have found it, you should make it a visual motivation so that you merely need to see it and you're in that mindset. I like to keep clips from magazines of workouts I'd like to be able to do or of figure models that I'd like to mold my body to be.
Balance- I am only beginning to appreciate the importance of this aspect of my life. For those who don't know me too well, there's one thing I can say about myself. I am all-in, all-the-time. If there is a goal I am working towards or something I am interested in, I eat and breathe it. When I was studying for my CPA, training for my first competition, or competing in sports growing up. This is great in achieving my goals but things are often forgotten or neglected. What I am most referencing, at this point in time, is my overall level of health. It was a good decision to visit the Institute of Eating Management. I decided that I wanted to take my body to the next level and knew that a lot of the fitness stars that I look up to currently use or have used IEM to reach their goals. Off the bat, I was informed that I wasn't getting enough nutrition to counter my workouts and that my body was in starvation. As soon as my diet was altered, I saw a difference. I was also ordered to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night and to cut out the coffee. After just three days, my body was responding incredibly. In fact, I have ended up leaner than when I started...which is something that we are trying to remedy as I am much too low for a non-competing time of year. I bring this all up to say that I am starting to see the importance of hitting it hard and then letting your body rest. Through my studies for my personal training certification, I have read over and over how mixing up your workouts are key to improvement. I suppose that I never considered this when it came to diet. Turns out, it's exactly the same thing. I am looking forward to being rested and lean for my wedding (3 1/2 weeks and counting!) and then taking a break through the holidays.... not too much of a break, it's all about balance :)
To all things, there is a season. A season for work and a season for rest. The rest makes the work worth it, and the work makes the rest!
