Why is it always so big?

 OK so hear me out. I love seeing the big accomplishments many athletes in the fitness space on socials achieve. The triathlons, half marathons, marathons, Ironman's, wildly heavy squats and deadlifts. It is inspiring and motivating, until it isn't. Ever just get the feeling that you're never going to be in that mindset? Like your body is never going to be able to achieve those things. They are just too big. 

I'm speaking like maybe you get the same thoughts, maybe you do maybe you don't. I am always pushing myself to be the best I can be. But as a mother of two, one of them being a co-sleeping and breastfeeding small baby, I think it'll be a while before I can consider training for a major event, as much as I want to. Sleep is a vital part of recovery and already I am testing my body's limits by training 3x a week in the gym and going for a 5k+ walk every day on very little. I'm using so much of my energy every day just feeding my son, then there's everything else including starting my own business all from scratch. It feels like a lot right now and the last thing I want to do is put more pressure on by signing up to a sporting event that I would have to train for. 

I think I felt the need to talk about this because you may feel like just doing the little things isn't enough for you to reach your goals. I am here to remind you that this is not the case. We don't all want to be completing Ultramarathons. Some of us just want to be physically fit and healthy enough to keep up with our children and family life. To carry the baby and the shopping. To have enough energy to see us through bath and bedtime and still have an evening to do something for ourselves. These might sound like little things but in the grand scheme of things they are really the big things. Because one sporting event may take 4 hours to complete but what we need our health and fitness for is every day, all the time. 

For me, the little things that are helping me reach my fitness goals are my daily steps, my sessions in the gym and keeping an eye on my nutrition (disclaimer: I have mentioned before that I do not regularly track my calories since I spent over a year in a deficit previously and have developed the skills to enable me to eat intuitively although I still use MyFitnessPal as a tool every now and again to track meals). I have slowly watched my weight go down since I had my son so never underestimate the power of the small simple things, not only that but my fitness has improved drastically just from walking regularly. (See my post "I didn't run for 3 months" for more on that topic!)

I'm certain that there are sporting events I would like to train for and complete. It's just that now isn't the right time for me. I work really hard on my mindset every day to tell myself that what is do is still a lot more than what Amber did 3+ years ago. I have a distinct memory of planning to do a walk with my older sister just around where she lived, probably around a time where we were both trying to lose some weight (pre-children) and I swear I must've walked for all of 10 minutes before admitting to her that just walking was absolutely smashing the granny out of my lower back. It was throbbing. I couldn't understand why at first, or maybe I was in denial, but it was sheer unfitness causing the pain. And I have a body riddled with arthritis but this was purely down to how unfit I was and how I rarely moved my body. Really embarrassing story as I'm sure I must've been in my early 20's. 

Yet now, I can walk for miles! With a baby and backpack strapped to me too! And mostly with ease unless my arthritis decides to start giving me pain which is becoming less often as the days go on - as my weight decreases as does the strain on my knees. That is a BIG THING. Being fit enough to walk 5k is a big deal. But the Internet and social media doesn't glamorise this as much. I understand why too, I get that the algorithm loves things that are outstanding. And as consumers of this content we love to see it! But I am just here to tell you that if you go outside and get some extra steps in today, or if you made it to the gym after bath and bedtime last night, then that is AMAZING. 

I like to treat this blog as if I were talking to teenage Amber who never thought she would be physically fit. I am telling her now that being fit doesn't necessarily mean being ultra lean with a cabinet full of medals from races you've completed. It's so much more than that. It's cooking dinner for your family with a baby on your hip, it's baking brownies and dancing in the kitchen with your daughter and it's having the confidence in your abilities to coach other wonderful women so they can become the best versions on themselves too. If only she knew that her struggles would be the reason for how exciting her life is today, she probably would have never believed me because she was as stubborn as a donkey. 

Celebrate your little wins, my friends. They are the big things.

Love Amber, xo