Shoes

 "We can never walk in someone else’s shoes for a mile or even a footstep, but we can hope of a better understanding and to learn to walk beside someone else, and attempt to see things, a small glimmer from their perspective for a short while.  But in the end we revert back to us and they them and hope we took something from it." - UNKNOWN

   We have all heard the saying, " You can never understand someone until you walk a mile in their shoes" and it is very true, to a certain extent. When we speak with friends and family about experiences, or situations we were in, or are currently going through (good or bad) they only understand to the extent of how they would feel, or react in that situation, and vice versa.
    When we try to put ourselves into an experience that someone else has or had, we are able to put their shoes on but they never fit correctly. We can feel our feet inside their shoes (experience), but we are feeling them through our own feet (perspective), therefore, we can never truly understand what it is like for those individuals.

          Every body has their own unqiue story, backgrounds, up bringings, habits, and rituals that cause us to react, feel, and think in different ways. Realizing this may help us to better understand someone, but we will never, ever know them, or what it's like to be them completely. That doesn't mean we still can't be there for the people we care about, or help them; absolutely you should! Maybe it will allow us to be there for people in our lives they way they need us to be. Maybe if we stop trying to put their shoes on and simply listen, open our hearts up to what they are saying we would be able to become better listeners! You do not need to understand completely what someone is going through to be there to support, care, encourage them and even grow ourselves! Every encounter with someone is an opportunity to make a difference, to send out positivity. Start getting excited, caring about other peoples stories and journeys, as well as your own. Share your experiences because people learn through them as much as you learn from theirs!

       

Today I am grateful that I made it through my first week back at work and had a great weekend to top it all off! It's was great to get back into the swing of things and I am excited to see where this school year takes me!  

-A

2013 Dreams, Goals, and Resolutions (part 1)

   My biggest goal for 2013 is healthy, healthy, HEALTHY! In the past few years, 5 or 6 roughly, I have obtained some very unhealthy habits ranging from poor eating, to smoking cigarettes, to drinking more frequently than necessary. I have always been more overweight for my height (5'0) . I played soccer from the time I was able to walk until my sophomore year of college. Since then, I have put on weight, my lack of physical activity and poor habits put my health in a dangerous category, and I'm only 23 years old.


   So how am I going to change this? Good question! For years I had promised myself to join the gym, eat healthier, wake up early and go running. I would start off great, but like most people, becoming discouraged always out weighed any progress I made. In the last 6-7 months I've had the pleasure of watching a complete life transformation happen for my older brother and sister through Crossfit. If you don't know exactly what Crossfit is, here's the scoop: " CrossFit describes its strength and conditioning program as “constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement,"[4] with the stated goal of improving fitness (and therefore general physical preparedness), which it defines as "work capacity across broad time and modal domains."[5] Workouts are typically short—20 minutes or less—and intense, demanding all-out physical exertion. They combine movements such as sprinting, rowing, jumping rope, climbing rope, flipping tires, weightlifting, carrying heavy objects, and many bodyweight exercises; equipment used includes barbells, dumbbells, gymnastics rings, pull-up bars, kettlebells, medicine balls, and boxes for box jumps.[6][7][8] These elements are mixed in numerous combinations to form prescribed "Workouts of the Day" or "WODs". Hour-long classes at affiliated gyms, or "boxes," typically include a warm-up, a skill development segment, the high-intensity WOD, and a period of individual or group stretching. Performance on each WOD is often scored and/or ranked to encourage competition and to track individual progress. Some affiliates offer additional classes, such as Olympic weightlifting, which are not centered around a WOD." (Wikipedia)


   Both my siblings have been on my tail about joining, ever since I took an Intro class at the box they go to called Brazen. The reason why I didn't sign up right then and there was because my ass was literally  handed to me that day. It took a few months of deep thought, and a heavy dose of reality to make me decide that this is a journey I want to be apart of. I found a box near my house called Marlboro Crossfit, and took an intro class this past Thursday with my friend Katie, and we both plan on signing up for the monthly essentials class this Tuesday. So here goes nothing! I know that I will be successful because I love already the way CrossFit has pushed me physically and mentally.

Starting Tuesday, I will be taking pictures every two weeks to document my physical changes through Crossfit. Come along with me on this journey! Through inspiring other people, we inspire ourselves and vice versa.





-A