Health

Only Tools Don’t Exercise

Posted on by lainamunoz

Fitness has been pretty important to me since about 17 years old, at first it was the realization that I was (slowly) becoming an adult and with that I gained the ability to choose my diet and learn what different foods did and the benefit of them. As I learned more and more about food and exercising the health aspect caught my full attention. I want to do way too many things in my lifetime not to remain healthy and able to do so. I want to live long and have children later in life and be able to love them and live well with them. All of that aside when I was around 21 I got sad, probably depressed (knowing me that’s really hard to admit and see) a little sometimes as well and needed something to help.

Again, I found myself at the feet of fitness knowing that there was a chemical release of endorphins that were absolutely GREAT for the sad seasons.

Exercising is a funny word, it doesn’t just apply to fitness and working out but also academics. We do math exercises and reading exercises to develop a specific ability that we have (and you DO have it, it might be small right now but change is possible). We also do exercises to expand what we know. In our songwriting class this week we were given an exercise to write a song in a week. Not a huge deal but we are only allowed to work on it 10 minutes a day. Gasps, grumbles and questions rolled around the classroom as many students tried to find all the loopholes when finally one of my classmates said,

“I can’t write a song like that, it’s just not how I write”

Hmm, well… Good thing this is an exercise, good thing that it’s literally made to develop a skill you didn’t have before. I’ve seen a change in the structure of my muscles since I started working out, I’ve added more and more weight to what I do because as I exercise those muscles that just ‘don’t write songs that way’ I find this crazy truth that I LEARN how to write songs that way. I learn how to pick up more weight.

I never want to be anywhere if I’m not teachable. I never want to roll up anywhere thinking my way is the only way. I actually think I still have a LOT to learn.

Something begins to happen when you work out though; you push yourself past the stresses of the day, past the overthinking and the limits that you allowed yourself to believe in. G-d has been constantly bringing up ‘Mental Blocks’ this semester. What I mean by this is, I’m reminded frequently of the power that the mind holds and when we allow a negative thought to solidify. Sometimes the thought isn’t even negative –sometimes it’s just limiting which is just as bad if you ask me. It’s baffling to me how much MORE I can accomplish with a simple “Laina, you’re almost there” that I either tell myself on my last 5 reps of a squat or that Krysia will remind me of as we are doing the last 30 sit ups. It’s releasing to believe that you can accomplish more.

When someone tells me I CAN write a song in 10 minutes a day for 7 days then all the sudden I push past the thoughts that I can’t. I firmly believe the mind is something to be trained just as much as the body. I, as a woman have the privilege of stereotypically being an over thinker – oh, and I fit it to a T. I’m currently on a 21 day fast of my thoughts, I’m fasting my overthinking and rewiring my mind to trust in peace and clarity and promises that I’ve already been given. I believe in mental healing as much as anything else. I think that pushing yourself develops that brain muscle that we all should probably take a little more time for. Even if it is something as simple as telling yourself that ‘G-d hasn’t given you the spirit or mindset of fear but of peace and love and a SOUND mind’ or remembering to ‘trust G-d with ALL of our hearts, lean not on our own understanding but in all our ways acknowledging Christ and HE will guide you’. Let your mind be at peace but always increasing.

This isn’t a fitness motivation post, although I do believe in treating your body well. This IS an exercise post though… work out… do the things that will develop your mind and the areas of your life that (suck) are underdeveloped. If you need a friend, find one. If you can’t find a friend, be a better friend (that one is for free). Invest enough in yourself to start breaking mental blocks that tell you, ‘you can’t’.

It’s a load of crap and all it takes to get over is a good work out session.

Do I Look Fat In This Dress? The Question You’ll Hear 500x Because We Hear it 5000x

Posted on by lainamunoz

So, I’ve realized a lot of things this week – and credit the majority of them to conversations with incredible people. I swear I’m never the wise one… I’m just one of the many who enjoy to regurgitate the wisdom in word form.

One of many of these lovely things that has been rolling around my heart and head this week has been body image. (Ewww, no one wants to talk about that!) But, it’s something I’ve battled with for ages and this week was dropped in my person-gut to talk about, because to my recollection I’ve never written about it.

How am I doing right now? I’m really good, I love eating, I love working out because I like to be strong and active, I love wearing hoodies and Nike shorts and I tolerate now more than ever wearing a dress occasionally. I have in the past been uncomfortable in every article of clothing I tried to wear out in public, I’ve had a mental mindset (and still do sometimes) that I’m actually bigger (weigh more, stomach sticks out farther, legs are fatter) than I am… I think there is a medical term for that but I don’t know what it is and I don’t think I’m a severe case to really even need to know. I chalk it up to being a woman. However, I know that those thoughts will come. IF nothing else then I can always tell when its that time of the month when I literally look the EXACT same as the day previous but I all the sudden feel like a beached whale in my t-shirt and wonder how I have friends. The thing is that I grew up with this, I walked through not eating and eating just to throw it up again – I went through being depressed and “not enough” and deciding to not eat AND go work out before. And even to this day, Satan is quite aware of me and how aware I am of me. He often whispers in a tone far too similar to mine, “Maybe lay off the Tim Tams… or all the food.” or “You should change, you look ridiculous”, or reminds me of all the crunches and leg lifts I haven’t done and how much it happens to be showing that day.

If this is a shock to you or not it’s the truth of some of my past and I think it’s important to let you know you aren’t the only one. It’s equally important for me to know I’m not the only one… I’ve been blessed with honest people and ones who’ve helped me though my mental battle (and continue to do so) I asked a BEAUTIFUL friend of mine to help me out this week. I’ve seen her walk through and change her attitude time and time again to health and not the disorder that plagues the minds of millions (men and women alike).

Allow me, if you will… and even if you wont I don’t care because you’re still reading… to share some thoughts from my friend:

I have struggled with my own perception of my body and what that means about my value as a human being basically my whole life. I almost developed an eating disorder in high school and was completely obsessed with what I ate and what I looked like. The amount of time I have wasted thinking about how I’d like to be skinnier or fretting over a wrinkle on my face is ridiculous. I could have been thinking about ways to better the lives of the people in my life; Or learning a language; Or reading about the world around me.

For me, the only way I can prevent going into obsessive mode is to just not entertain (more accurately: try not to entertain) the annoying thoughts that are always looking to creep into the forefront of my consciousness. Kick butt at the gym? Yes. But then don’t obsess over how I could have done better after the work out is over or wonder why I don’t look like Serena Williams. Eat healthy? Absolutely. But then don’t beat myself up for not eating whole organic foods for every single meal of my whole entire life. Wear makeup? If that’s you, then yes boo, get it. But I’ll try not to feel bad for not caring. Wear sunscreen? Um yes, wrinkles. Ain’t nobody got time for premature aging. But I really need to stop obsessing over my skin just because I don’t look as fresh as I did when I was 16. Aging is a privilege. I need to start seeing it that way.

Bodies are marvelous things. We should appreciate them and care for them as such. Me and my fellow women can grow little humans. I think that this ability is as equally amazing as it is totally weird. We can laugh, and hug, and dance, listen to and create music, and see and hold cute little baby ducks. And our bodies house our minds. And with our minds, humans have created the means to travel into outer space. OUTER SPACE! I want to use my brainpower for something better than worrying about the circumference of my waist.

Do I think it’s bad to try and look beautiful? I wish I didn’t even care. I wish that it were something that never even crossed my mind. Right now, that’s not the case. I’m fairly vain to be honest. But I’m trying to retrain my brain not to be; because there are better things I could be pondering.

I wish appearance didn’t hold as much power as it does in our society. I wish we could learn to see each other the way dogs see humans. Doesn’t matter if you’re overweight, short, white, skinny, purple, plagued by severe acne, or have the looks of Theo James (thank ya Jesus! [I’m aware that this is hypocritical]), dogs will love you any way you are as long as you’re kind. Dogs are cool.

Ugh, my friends… they’re the best.

What a beautiful thought – My mom always told me, “Pretty is as pretty DOES” I hope I DO pretty well. I hope that I am kind and love people regardless of what they look like.

Like I said, I’ve had support through this, she’s sat me down on more than one occasion to ask, “Laina, how are YOU REALLY?” It helps me to hear the questions and answer them out of my own head because like I said, Satan’s tone is all to similar to mine. I stand stronger when I stand with a friend. When I realized I wasn’t the only one and that I could talk though my life with people I found it so much easier to live.

Maybe you don’t deal with this at all… which is sick and I’m jealous. Or maybe you do, maybe you don’t want to talk to me but you need to talk to someone and thats totally fine. But, please DO talk to someone. I’ve now briefly shared that there is at least two other real human beings in the world who also are walking through or have walked through this so at the very least. Just know you aren’t alone. And, not sure why I needed to even get this out but there was no doubt I did. This is where I just expect Jesus to be Jesus because my thoughts are way too simple.

((well, that was different))