Daring Adventures.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable - Helen Keller

One of my biggest regrets about waiting til my mid (ugh) twenties to get in shape and lose weight is all of the adventures I was too intimidated to try. Many of you wouldn't expect that from me, since I'm a go-getter but even I felt weird about certain things. I do NOT like to be in last place at anything. I remember complaining to my Mom in college about my hatred for math and following it up with 'I'm just not good at being the stupid kid in class - I work too hard for that'.

Before losing almost 70 pounds, I felt most intimidated by being the least 'in shape' of a group. I didn't like situations where I felt like I would be holding a group back in any way. So as I've worked hard to not just get the weight off but to actually get in shape through cardio, weight training, classes, videos, etc - and by getting over my 'iusetobefat' mentality I've really stepped out of my comfort zone and tried new things.

A few things I wouldn't have tried a year ago that I've faced head on in 2011:

Dance lessons. I'm a horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE dancer but while I was dating Thomas we bought a groupon and gave them a shot. I have to say, I'm still not sure I'll ever steal the spotlight on a dance floor BUT I vastly improved, I gave it a good shot, and I may just use some of those skills on future dance floors of weddings I will be attending soon.

Crossfit. I shared recently that my roommate, Bekah, and I have started Crossfit. For those of you who are unfamiliar it's INTENSE group fitness that feels a lot like I imagine boot camp would feel. That's right - I'm participating in hardcore group fitness, another thing I would have been intimidated by before. And honestly, I'm not the most athletic, the skinniest, or in the best shape in the class. But I'm also not the butt. I've stayed pretty middle of the pack the whole time, and that's a big step. I've also finished every single workout.

5K. I completed my first 5k. I wasn't first, I wasn't last, and I was most definitely not fast - but I finished. One of the things I've had to realize is it's ok to do things that I'm not great at. I will more than likely never be a runner - partly because I'm built short n sturdy and lacking anything that would qualify me as having a 'runner's physique' and I also have a bad knee from an injury in college which keeps me from pounding too much pavement. But before I lost weight I couldn't run without pain and now I can, and do. Slow and steady but I do it, and that feels like a victory in itself.

TV. I went on TV to talk about my weight loss and have a makeover. I never in a million years would have expected that I would have willingly signed up to be on camera talking about how I use to be fat. But it's amazing how good I feel about my progress and how encouraged I feel to get to my ultimate end goal.

The last one I'll mention today really inspired this entry. Tuesday night for the first time ever I tried a Zumba class - a combo of two things that use to terrify me: dancing in public AND group fitness in which I had no idea what's going on. But I went, alone, and did my best and even though I was pretty terrible, I felt good about it afterwards. I think I'll even go back.

This entry was mostly just to encourage you all that life is what you make it and if you've been letting your fears keep you from experiencing things that could prove to be a lot of fun, stop. Don't take yourself too seriously to do a few things your terrible at. Don't be afraid of failure, we've all experienced and we've all survived.

Love,

B