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Well, I am turning 30 in 10 days now. I think I’m among the last out of all of my friends. In retrospect, if a forty year old were reading this post right now, she’d probably say, ” ha, thirty is nothing, wait till you turn forty, stop whining”!

It’s been really weird though I’ve been going through some really weird changes. For one, I woke up one morning and decided it was time to take my nose ring out. I’ve had this nose ring for ten years now but felt it just wasn’t me anymore. On to some ink maybe…. ha, as if that’s any more me than a stupid nose ring. No seriously, I really want a tattoo. Second I cut my hair into this totally grungy kind of gypsy look, if that makes any sense and I haven’t put on makeup in almost a month now. In addition to that, for the past year I have been wearing fake nails and again just woke up and looked at my hands and thought…”gross”, this is not me. What is going on? Am I turning into a hippie or something?

I don’t know what wild hair has graced me with it’s presence but it’s been rather interesting the past few weeks around my household. I know one method to my madness  has to do with where I live. I just don’t feel at home. I want to leave and find the spot where I can lay down my roots. I want a big piece of land with a bunch of pets and a bunch of trees. I want to live far enough away from civilization but close enough because I know I’ll need to be. Again….if that make any sense. The only thing that makes me happy right now is hanging out with my kids, my hubby, my church and being at the gym. Why? because this is where the uncensored version of my life thrives.

My kids don’t lie to me, they tell me how it is. They are not vindictive and spiteful. Yes, sometimes they drive me to insanity but they are real, no bs. My husband is not one of those guys that will tell me “no” if I ask him if an outfit looks good on me, he’s not a beat around the bush type of the guy,  in fact he’s the furthest from that type. I sometimes have to tell him to keep the truth to himself.

At the gym, people bare their most intimate souls. I say this because I think the number one thing people have shortcomings with is their physical appearance. It takes a lot of balls for someone to walk into a gym that has completely let themselves go for whatever reason and make the best choice they can to reverse what time, life and poor choices has done to their bodies. These people go to the gym and work their asses off day after day. They sweat like pigs and they do it in front of other people. I have great respect for them. I have an even greater respect for them because they are not trying to hide behind their insecurities, they are clearly trying to better themselves.

Now, I’m not saying that these are the only people out there trying to better themselves, there are obviously millions of others that are also trying to improve but in other ways. But realistically, if you don’t have your health, than how can you improve anything else efficiently. But what’s so cool is, I see these people at the gym day after day forming little pacts with each other for strength and support in achieving their goals. It’s like a regular group effort program, if you will.

Yet, unfortunately I have also noticed the downside of these people who regularly attend gyms. They are called enablers and or sabatours that disguise themselves as friends. These people, in my opinion are people who  may not agree with lifestyle change or who are in some way threatened by it. They act like friends but really what their trying to do is keep the other person fat, unhappy and miserable, just like them. These are the people that suggest  “let’s go to mcdonald’s” or “why aren’t you drinking” when they know damn well that both of those things will ruin what the gymgoer  is trying to accomplish. Just so you know, I’m totally aware of the gymgoer being able to make their own choices and not chosing the right ones. But I’m also aware of the gym goers who go to the gym on a daily basis only to return to their lives eating crap and somehow feel justified doing it because they go to the gym.  Then they wonder why they still are not losing any weight. I myself have been guilty of that way of thinking. It wasn’t until I totally changed my eating habits did I start seeing the results I wanted.

With that said, one of the hardest things I fight with weekly, is the peer pressure to break my own healthy habits. I’ve had people make fun of me and my antics. I’m sure I’ve even had some of my local friends sneer at my recent facebook posts about what I eat on a daily basis whereas any of my other friends in other parts of the country where healthy living is more standard, would not think anything of it. So here is where my particular location of residence fits into the picture a bit more. Healthy living is just not a normal way of life down here in the land of refried beans and tamales. Even though it is starting to become more prevelant and for that I’m really excited, I still feel even more out of place because of my stronger beliefs when it comes to health issues. I now find myself desperately craving others that share these beliefs. On the flipside, I also find myself delighted in those people who are more than willing to open their minds and try. I mean it’s no mystery, the US is the fatest country and I’d be willing to bet that the US also has the greatest health problems to go along with it.

So in the past couple of weeks, I have been really torn because the people who are willing to change are craving knowledge, they are tired of being tired and look to people like me and all of the other trainers at the gym to help them adopt healthier ways of living. The best  and most rewarding part is to have ladies who take my classes corner me and thank me for helping them lose their unwanted pounds. So for that, I should say, all the other bs is worth it. So, despite my crazy pre-thirty life crisis, I can honestly say I’m probably in the best shape of my life. And for the first time in, well, ever, I can look at myself in the mirror and feel really good about what I see. Although I find it really  ironic that it took me moving completely out of my “healthy” surroundings back in Colorado to this land of never ending rice and beans for me to actually accomplish my own fitness goals. Life is just strange. Writing this post has brought me to this conclusion…..turning 30……BRING IT!!!! I feel better now than I ever did in my twenties.