Staring into space.
I can almost feel all of the antibiotics in my body, swishing around – scurrying to fix all the patches in my skin suit.
I’ve been sick, I have a lower respiratory bacterial infection. I’ve been sick since Thursday, slept all day Friday – tried to work out Sat and Sunday… none of this matters though, really.
I was sick and frustrated during all my workouts this weekend, why? Accountability.
Accountability, the state of being accountable; an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions. First and foremost, I am accountable to myself – it destroys me when I miss a workout, half-ass a workout, or can’t finish a workout.
It destroys me because I don’t want to disappoint my coaches. This is where I will stress the importance of finding a coach who really listens to you, cares about you and plans with you for you. My coach is amazing. He knows I have been ill, this morning he was more concerned about my sick/pain levels than my missed workouts. He was more concerned with my health than my fitness level. He was more concerned about me than how far out we were from competing, how my cut was going and how my body was shaping.
WHAT?!?!
I am much harder on myself than those around me, I have very high expectations for what I should be able to accomplish. My coach keeps me grounded, makes sure to let me know that I come first before the rest. It’s great that I am competing, it’s great that I work out, it’s great that I’m healthy for everything that my body is going through – but I need to listen to the whispering in my body, before they become screams.
I am not so good at listening, I hear the screams and then I focus on the getting better.
My coaches do the listening, they watch my weights – listen to my dialogue – help keep me focused – keep me accountable. I am accountable to so many things in life, as we all are; but being accountable to your body should be the number 1 concern.
My body gets me around, moves me around, does everything I need her to do and more; I should repay her by being good to her. I need to put my body first.
Shouldn’t we all put our bodies first? Enough with excuses, with putting other things first – if we all took the time to listen to what our bodies needed think of how much hurt, sick and sad could go away. I used to be accountable to work first and my body second, which; as you can guess had some disastrous consequences.
Take a minute to sit down, think about what your body needs from you; and start making it first. Like how James should have listened to his upset tummy before eating a monstrous amount of dinner.