Lucy to be ALIVE

Gee I’m lucky! There’s no longer a day in my life when I am not surrounded by incredibly beautiful, genuine and inspiring people who become constant reminders to me of the opportunities life has to offer us and how grateful we can all be for the simple things we have around us. There’s one moment in each day I lead that I spare a thought for someone who has taught me, inspired me, or given me strength, courage and determination through their words or actions to allow me to develop and mature as a young person, athlete and human being.

So today, I spared a thought for someone who reminds me of the word ‘gratitude’, he who opened my eyes to remembering to be thankful for all that we have and reminds me of the preciousness of this thing called ‘life’.  This brings me to tell you a little story about a man who I believe carries the strength of a true soldier and the determination of a warrior and his unbelievable courage which carried him from his then grave to his now energetic and positive life…. So please read on.

A dear family friend of ours had been a busy and successful man, married with children, worked hard as a dentist in his own establishment and in his spare time enjoyed active holidays and aquatic sports. On one of his days snorkeling at a reef, he was caught in a fish feeding frenzy and suffered a small bite from a fish.

Not thinking much of this bite, he went home about his business and carried on like we all tend to do. It was not until a few days had passed that he was in hospital in the intensive care unit in an induced coma, fighting for his life. A form of bacteria had spread through his bloodstream which became septic affecting his vital organs and putting his body into complete turmoil. The doctors were dumbfounded by his condition. His skin began to peel away like sheets of seaweed, his eyes were sunken, his voice was weak and he appeared far older than his 56 years. His survival was doubtful and his outcome completely unknown. The infection spread to his left leg, which was soon amputated just below the knee, and a shunt was placed in his heart. The duration of his life appeared to be not much longer than this article, but he proved us all wrong.  

Today, I visited him at work, where he greeted me with a big smile, a kiss, and stories of his snorkeling holiday in Fiji with his wife. We had a laugh about ‘octoshark’ (check it out on youtube!) and a bit of a giggle over the fact that he has been through more than one prosthetic leg since being fitted with one. His active lifestyle and determination appear to ‘wear out’ his pseudo leg. Like any good horse rider who has a fall, he got back in the ocean where he was once bitten and thought nothing of it.

This miraculous recovery and story of his life is a gentle reminder to me to be grateful for the fact that I have four limbs, a body, a mind and a heart and soul – and mine are all in perfect working order. For years I have taken this for granted. Wished away my ‘everything but model’ legs, stumpy hands, flat chest and pudgy waistline. The physical and mental abuse some of us put ourselves through to ‘look better and be better’ becomes exhausting… and for what? To prove what? A special friend of mine (for whom I also spare a thought) once said to me ‘Our body is simply a vessel to carry us around in’ and this has stuck with me for a long time, particularly when the going gets tough and the mind starts telling you all the things you don’t like about yourself. The complexity of the human body, the way in which it works, its ability to communicate, recover, heal, and perform is simply mind-blowing and it’s in many ways a tragedy that so many people in this life take that for granted.

Next time you have a bad day, or the going gets tough, or your mind wallows in negativity and stress and shame and
blame, do yourself a favour and spend a few minutes writing a gratitude list… everything or everyone you are grateful for having in your life. Add to it. Reflect on it. Digest it. And remember; my dear friend had limits, but he now lives life without limits, why aren’t you doing the same?

I’d like to take this time to thank Tim personally for allowing me to share his story and also for the strength and hope he has instilled in me since his life changing accident. Tim you are a true inspiration and a true fighter. It is an honour to know you and hear of your successes and I wish you a continuing life of rich opportunity, warm thoughts and happy health!

by: Lucy - Art of Fit female blogger

Welcome to the New Year – a time for beginnings, a fresh start, out with the old, in with the new. An explosion of positivity, motivation and excitement followed by romanticized perceptions of the ‘perfect year’. For some of you this may be the case – but for most, It couldn’t be further from the truth! January 1^st 2000 and (insert year here), most people I know wake up with a hangover from alcohol, worse yet - drugs or lack of sleep (I’m in the lack of sleep hangover department… midnight is way past my bedtime) due to a combination of peer pressure and ‘new year expectations’ of celebrations and setting of new years goals. I do nothing but moan at the idea. However, in saying that I often go about curiously asking people I know what their new years resolution is.

“I want to lose weight” 

“I want to be fit”

“I want to be rich”

“I want to get motivated”.

I really like the one “I want to give up drinking… “ Especially when they say it at midnight of January 2000 and (insert date here) with a beer in one hand and a shot gurgling down their throat.

Yeah, I hear these all the time. You probably have made such resolutions yourself at some point in your life. I could not think of a worse time to be setting goals…. So many of us are still celebrating Christmas and new years and holidays all through the course of January. Firstly I ask myself, why put so much pressure on the situation? I used to force myself to make a goal/resolution simply to feed that expectation that I feel is so present in the air at such a time of year.  That then often answers the question of “Ok is this really something I want or is it simply something else to think about so I don’t have to ask myself what I really need?

You’re probably scratching your head now, wondering – well yes, Lucy is right – how do I then set myself a goal to satisfy both my need AND my wants? Let us break down goal setting into a more manageable concept – less of a beast to slay!

Steps to setting goals:

• Grab a piece of paper and write down all your dreams and desires, needs and wants.
• Ask yourself why you want this ‘thing/experience/achievement’ in your life. Don’t just say ‘I want to lose weight’ – that’s too broad. Give your goal some content: WHY do you want to lose weight, HOW much weight do you want to lose WHEN do you want to lose it by and HOW are you going to go about losing the weight?
• Write the pros and cons of the goal and weigh it up to see whether you really want this as your goal.
• Be realistic! There is no point setting yourself a goal that your cant achieve – then it all becomes far too overwhelming and you will find it extremely difficult to achieve ANYTHING!

Steps to achieving goals:

• Once you have established the goal, write it up – stick it everywhere: on your fridge, on your mirror, in your car, as a wallpaper on your iphone or lap top, whatever piece of techno goodness you use and abuse! See this goal – all surrounding your being. Make yourself accountable to someone who you can trust and have faith in – and keep track with them as to where your goals are at!
• Make smaller goals to achieve along the way. For example, perhaps you want to become the richest person in the world. This isn’t going to happen over night, but it will happen. Only if you be realistic with these goals. So perhaps the first goal could be:
   Open a new bank account with an investment fund in it that has a higher interest rate than Knobjobs Bank down the road. Then…
  Promise to put away 10% of your weekly earnings straight into that investment fund every week. Example.
• Reap rewards: Reward yourself for these smaller goals once you have achieved them! So perhaps you have saved 10% of your weekly earnings for two months – go treat yourself to the latest issue of ‘Financial Review” come on you know how excited this makes you!  Embrace the glorified feeling you get whilst reading it;  “yes, I deserve this!” And then set yourself another small goal with another small reward. Simple!

Steps to maintain goals and keep you on track:

• Remind yourself of your goals and why you want to achieve them. Keep em’ in an ‘all access area’. Jamie Eason, an incredibly young woman who inspires the world with her positive notions and goddamn good looks recommends a ‘visionary board’. Great idea I think, so ill copy her by recommending it to you!  Frank uses one too – just put any images/words/poems/photos up of things that keep you inspired towards your goals and dreams and leave it in a place that you know you will see it everyday. Better yet why not create an account at a new website called "Pinterest". There you can create multiple online boards reminding  yourself of your goals and dreams. You can connect with the Art of Fit on there to see what inspires, motivates us!  
• Keep track of your progress – by writing down small achievements/telling someone you know gives a darn about your goal.

What do I do once I have achieved my goal, you may ask? Start another one! There comes a great sense of pride and satisfaction in achieving goals, why sell yourself short of such a thing! So, while your sitting here reading this… get out your piece of paper, scratch your head and get scribbling – 2012 has begun!

If your ready to START....so are WE!

 

A differnt kind of team!

First off, let me thank you for taking a look at the Art of Fit. I'm so proud and excited to start helping others on there journey of self discovery, discovering the masterpiece that lies within. In order to do as much as I can to enable you to get the life and results you want, I'm going to explain the basis of the art of fit, how it started, and where it will go. 

I was recently forturnate enough to have my Transformation Story featured on Mark Sisson's web page called Mark's Daily Apple. For those of you who have done P90X, Mark Sisson was featured on all the dvd's for nutrition advise and tips.  The comments and feedback from that story have been so overwherlming that I have decided to try my best at helping others achieve the same level of success, if not BETTER!  It has been such an honor to help inspire so many people to improve there health and lives. If you havn't read it yet. Check it out HERE!

My favorite comment in the user posts come from this GRANDMA!

 I tried every supplement, personal trainer  and diet out there with little to no success. Well, finally after years of looking, I found it!

I hope to share my success and failures during my journey with you. The Art of Fit will break the mold on your normal fitness site. Alot of the typical advise you see out of the mainstream health and fitness media are filled with half truths and mis-information. I hope to help debunk some of those myths on the Art of Fit. I intend to constantly experiment and tinker with my own health and fitness in order to find what does and does not work.  I will take on these challenges so that it becomes easier for you to reach your own goals. 

 

Since my transformation, so many people have come up to me interesting questions.   Well I am excited to say over the past few months since completing my transformation, I have experimented with alot of these things. I plan to do a number of articles explaining all of them. The benefits, disadvantages, half truths and lies. 

Some of the articles that you can expect include:

What's the best way to incorporate "cheat meals" ?

Meal Frequency - Is it ok to skip a meal?

What are the best and cheapest ways to find healthy food?

Can I get in great shape without the use of supplements?

How is it your able to eat epic sized meals over 1,000 calories and stay lean?

With the help of the Art of Fit's new female contributer Lucy, we both will have a wide array of helpful information, news, tips, tricks and even some treats! Between Lucy an her life long fitness background, and me with my life changing sudden transformation, we will have both the male and female perspectives covered.

All I ask of you is this, I am here to serve, help and work for you. If there is something you want to understand better or learn more about. Drop me an email. I will take the most challenging questions or suggestions and try it for myself. 

I can't guarantee you won't have your own setbacks or struggles as you try to change and transform your life. But as I learned the past few months, if you treat each setback as lesson learned as to what doesn't work, then its easier to discover what does. Use it as a learning experience and don't be too hard on yourself about it. This is the best way to achieve long term results.  We are all human and all make mistakes. Just try to not repeat them!

 Just remember " If you never failed, then you never lived."

Within everyone lies the power to turn failure into success, lets start the journey together!