You have a beautiful body!

Yesterday I was shopping at Lululemon and a woman walked in saying "I need help.  I need something to lift, separate, hold me in.  I need help with this ugly body of mine."  The sweet girl working there replied, "You have a beautiful body!!!" and then proceeded to help her find what she needed. 

"YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL BODY!!!"  It was so refreshing to hear.  It was sweet.  It was genuine.  It was the truth.  She did have a beautiful body.  It just breaks my heart when I hear women say they are ugly!

I have a few girlfriends who obsess about their weight, about what they eat.  I want to get the message out there that you all are beautiful.  Sometimes, you have to forget about the scale and focus on you as a person!  You're more than just an object.  You have a mind, a personality, and attitude that can take you further than what your physicality can.

A positive body image is key and here are 10 things that I hope will help. :)

1.)  Appreciate everything your body can do.  I can do pushups!  I can do a cartwheel!  I can lift heavy shit!  I can carry all my groceries in one trip!  I can punch hard!  I can kick ass!

2.)  Keep a top 10 list of things you like about yourself - things that aren't related to how much you weigh or what you look like.  I'm smart.  I can cook.  I inspire people.  I know Krav Maga.  I'm an artist.  I can paint.  I have style.  I make people laugh.  I'm a UCLA grad.  I'm a teacher.  I'm a great friend. 

3.)  Remind yourself that "true beauty" is not simply skin deep... Beauty is a state of mind, not a state of your body.

My oh so wise friend, Scotty boy, posted this picture and I had to share his take - "Class" is a word that has become relegated to "old" people it seems. Strength, confidence and sexiness start from behind the eyes and manifest through words and actions. Skin is skin and even an infant can be nude.

4.)  Look at yourself as a whole person... choose not to focus on specific body parts.

5.)  Surround yourself with positive people.  Seriously what gets me through the day are the amazing friends I have.  Stay away from negativity and love the life you live.

6.)  Shut down those voices in your head that tell you your body is not "right" or that you are a "bad" person.  You can choose to believe what you want.  If you believe that you're great, you are great!  You can tell yourself what to do and what to believe each day!  As for me, I tell myself to be awesome every damn day!

7.)  Wear clothes that are comfortable and that make you feel good about your body.  Back to my Lululemon start of this blog.  LOL  Wearing my lulu tights or lulu shorts make me feel super sexy.  Wear it.  Own it.  I'm comfy and look good.  Holla!!!

8.)  Become a critical viewer of social and media messages.  Don't let any of that media bring you down.  Remember that those tiny models probably don't look normal in real life LOL.  Men love curves.  Love your curves. LOL

9.)  Do something nice for yourself -- something that lets your body know you appreciate it.  Today, I got myself a nice full body massage.  Yesterday, I let myself enjoy that Reese's Peanut Butter Cup! :)

10.)  Use the time and energy that you might have spent worrying about food, calories, and your weight to do something to help others.  Right now, I'm writing this blog... in hopes of helping someone out there who might need it.  :)  I hope you enjoy this and pass the message along!

GORUCK Light - 7 hour and 12 mile adventure with my KMW Crew

Last weekend, I did one of the craziest, funnest, and physically challenging things ever - the GORUCK Light Challenge.  What is GORUCK?  Well, GORUCK started by Special Forces, Jason Mccarthy, first off was a gear company specializing in rucksacks that are supposed to be good for everything... war, open roads, training with bricks, mud, etc.  These rucks can take a beating and they claim that they can hold up to just about anything.  The GORUCK Challenge (an event patterned after Special Forces training) was created to basically prove this... to show how durable and tough these rucks really were.  It was after these challenges that GORUCK became more than a gear brand... the challenges brought out a higher purpose - THE TEAM!  What I love about this is that challenge takers learn how to lead, how to solve problems, how to work better... TOGETHER!  You end up bonding with your teammates more than ever.  You'll be amazed at how far your body can go... past limitations you thought existed... and for the sake of not letting your team down.  It's amazing!

I participated in the Light Challenge... and let me tell just say that LIGHT does not equal EASY.

Taken straight from the website:

"GORUCK Light is an introduction to the team-based training found in Special Operations. It is also much less grueling than our original event, the GORUCK Challenge. Your class will consist of up to 30 participants (aka members of your new GORUCK family). One Cadre, an experienced member of Special Operations, will teach leadership as your class overcomes adversity to become a team. (Team being a very important word. GORUCK Light is a team event, never a race).
GORUCK Light takes place over 4-5 hours, and you will cover roughly 7-10 miles. You will also smile. A lot. We promise.

Those who complete GORUCK Light will earn the GORUCK Light patch, which will never be for sale. Upon completion you are also qualified to participate in GORUCK Scavenger. All other alumni-events require you to pass the GORUCK Challenge, GORUCK Heavy, or GORUCK Selection.
You must be 18 to participate in GORUCK Light."

My bricks wrapped up Krav Maga style!

The regular challenge according to the website is 8-10 hours (more like 12 hours after talking to some of my friends who did it) and each person carries 6 bricks (4 if you're under 150lbs).  For the Light, it's supposed to be less grueling... only 4-5 hours according to the website and each person carries 4 bricks (2 if you're under 150lbs).  My backpack was about 20lbs with my bricks and water bladder.  Most of the guys were carrying about 35lbs.  And guess what... my Light Challenge wasn't 4-5 hours... it was 7 hours!  Underpromise, overdeliver is what I hear they are big on!  Thank god my friends warned me that it might be 7 hours so I was prepared!




 I don't want to give too much away about my crazy day because I highly encourage you try it for yourself and get the experience... but I do want to share some of it with you.

Pre-GORUCK Challenge with my KMW Crew

So we started at 7am at LACMA.  There were 101 people there for the challenge.  16 of which were from Krav Maga Worldwide.  From the beginning we started off with a set of pushups... as a team.  That means if someone messes up, you start back from 0!  You can see how a set of 25 pushups with a team that big can become 100 pushups easily.  LOL  A few people showed up late and right away they were told to bear crawl their way to us.  I could already tell I was in for a treat when I saw that.   We hustled our way to some park where we got down in the dirt right away... more pushups, thrusters, bear crawls, flutter kicks, etc.  I'm sure we did at least an hour and a half of physical torture as a team in the dirt.  From there, we were sent on missions with time caps and if we didn't reach our goal, we were punished.  At each destination, more physical tasks were given.  By the end of the challenge, we covered roughly 12 miles throughout Los Angeles.  All this while carrying bricks the entire time... and sometimes carrying each other.  There was one point when they told us we had 10 casualties and our team had to carry them for what seemed like 2 miles but I'm not sure.  One of the best parts of this adventure was getting into the fountain on Avenue of the Stars in Century City!  I still can't believe we did that.  Yes, we got soaking wet during this.  It's not GORUCK if you don't get wet and dirty.  Throughout this crazy 7 hour adventure, you learn to do everything as a team or you get punished.  I think that's what I loved most about it.  I'm huge on teamwork so this was right up my alley.  I'm so glad I did it and that I got to do it with a ton of friends.  We are now even closer than before.  We are all pretty crazy and I never thought I'd say this but I kinda can't wait to do the 12 hour challenge next.  I really had a lot of fun!

Post-GORUCK Challenge!  After 7 hours and 12 miles!  Dirty and Wet!!!

I survived this adventure and now want more!  Go figure!   I earned a patch at the end.  These patches are never sold too so it's pretty cool to say I have one!  You can only earn them... and I did just that!

Always earned, never sold!

So that was my latest and greatest story of last week.  Don't worry I got more for you.  Now it's your turn to go do something that scares you.  :)  It's healthy!  Overcome something and succeed!!!  I'm cheering for you.