11 Life Lessons from 2011 to Turn You Strong Inside Out
2011 is almost over and I'm sad to see it go.
This year has been the best of my life for so many reasons.
Many bloggers are posting their annual reviews right about now, but I thought I'd create my own version.This post is going to go over the 11 most essential actions that made my year so great and can make 2012 the best year of your life. These are the life lessons I learned from 2011:
1. Get Out of Debt
Early this year, I paid off all my credit card bills and school loans to get completely out of debt! I can't tell you what a relief it is to finally be clear of owing anybody anything. My life feels like my own again.I worked hard to be able to pay off all that I owed, but I could have saved a lot of time if I went over the resources over at ManVsDebt.com. Adam Baker has built a site from his experience getting out of debt with a wife and child (and one on the way!). I highly recommend taking a look-see at all of the information over there if you're struggling to pay off your debt.
2. Experience The World
Over the last year, I have traveled more than I have in my entire life! I've been to:•Sedona, AZ•Santa Barbara, CA•Washington D.C.•Kauai, HI•Portland, OR•Tamarindo, Costa Rica•Hampton, NH•San Francisco, CA•San Rafael/Novato, CA...and am leaving for Paris in just about 3 weeks!Getting out of debt and increasing my savings helped a bit, but it really came down to mastering travel hacking. I learned so much from TravelHacking.org and from attending The World Domination Summit that I really didn't need to spend that much money to go to all these places.I definitely have the travel bug now, and I'm so excited for everywhere I'm already planning to go in 2012!Here are some great sites to get you deals or to inspire your journeys:The Art of Nonconformity this is my go-to for inspiration and travel tips. Chris Guillebeau has been to almost every country in the world... literally.Travel Zoo I got some great deals from travelzoo for airfare, hotel stays and even spa packages.Trip Advisor if I'm going somewhere I've never been, I always check Trip Advisor for the best, cheapest hotels. It's user-generated content that doesn't hold back. Learn from other peoples' experiences before having them yourself!
3. If It Scares You, Do It Anyway
At the beginning of 2012, I was paralyzed by a lot of the fear I faced. What I learned this year:If you feel that exciting fear, you know you're on the brink of something amazing.Take the fear as a cue to push past your limits of comfort and discover what lies outside of them!All your brain and body know are the things you have already achieved.If you are not happy with your life as it is, you have to get uncomfortable and get into the unknown!When I got up the courage to actually push through the fear and use it as a cue to change my life, I:•Quit my job at a corporate gym•Started my own business•Started making twice the amount I was making before with half as many clients•Went to Portland for The World Domination Summit on a whim and met people and learned information that showed me that encouraged me to launch Strong Inside Out•Started writing extremely personal posts that scared the s**t out of me•Got an amazing response and my reader base continues to grow... especially when I reveal my vulnerability.I heard a woman speak at The World Domination Summit who changed my life. Danielle LaPorte of WhiteHotTruth.com has been an inspiration and encouraging voice ever since. Her posts are always a nice reminder to push myself past my comfort zone to achieve what I never knew was possible.I now use this rule as a motto of mine. It informs many of my actions and has brought me so much happiness and has shown me that what I thought I could do was so short-sighted.Need some extra ammo before going in against the scary things? Check out my previous post, Sucker Punch Your Fears And Start Living.
4. Rest Is Just As Important As Putting In The Work
Trigger warning: eating disordersIf I learned one thing about working out this year, it is that rest is of utmost importance for your health. The same rule applies to work. If you work and work and work until you're dead tired, you'll become disinterested, resentful, and useless to those you work for.At the beginning of the year, I was working hard to gain muscle mass and lose body fat on a vegetarian diet. I was lifting 4-5 days a week and doing cardio 5 days a week. I would combine the "less intense" cardio days with some lifting days and take one full day off per week... sometimes.My body started to deteriorate. Tracking my stats with Dexa Scan (a lean mass, body fat, and bone density analyzer similar to a bod pod but more accurate), I was able to see that after a month of training like this, my body had lost a minute amount of body fat (about 1%), but had also lost muscle and bone density.My body had started to eat itself to try to keep up. I couldn't think straight. I was exhausted all the time. My depression had returned.It wasn't until I backed off the program and changed my diet that I started to feel normal again. Ever since that month, however, my body has become extremely sensitive to stress. Since exercise is viewed as stress by the body, I have to schedule my workouts and rest days wisely, allowing adequate rest and recovery time so that my body doesn't hold on to fat while spending muscle.I now make it a point to take at least 2 rest days per week from working out.Hopefully you'll never get to the point I did, teaching your body to turn against itself in times of stress.Please, learn from my mistakes and make my rule your own this year.If you want to learn more about how I recommend you integrate rest into your regimen, read Push Hard. Now Let Go and How To Reconnect.
5. Set Your Priorities
Since starting my own business and launching Strong Inside Out, it's been very easy to lose myself in my work. Since this blog and my personal training company are important to me, I have trouble balancing my social, family and love lives.This is where setting priorities comes into play. If I didn't abide by this rule, I'd be alone and unloved by now, obsessing about my work, accepting every client that comes my way, and writing 5 posts a week.Fortunately or unfortunately, I now know how to say "no."As tempting as it is to work 6 1/2 days a week as many of my personal trainer friends do, I recently took Fridays off to get more done on the site and to be more present with my boyfriend. I make dates with my girlfriends even though I could use that time for writing or programming for clients.Life is all about choosing your priorities. You choose how you live your life.
6. Don't Be A Stranger
At the beginning of the year, I have to admit, I was quite shy. Still am in some cases.After attending The World Domination Summit, however, I kicked most of that to the curb.The air at the summit was full of positive energy and excitement. Leo Babauta even commented on it during his speech.It was so easy to talk to people there! Everyone was receptive and encouraging. They made it seem like there was no way to NOT succeed if you followed your passion!Above all, I really learned how to talk to people I admired: treat them like a human being. I realized that I had previously fallen into the trap of putting people on pedestals just because they had fame or had achieved what I had not, which makes people uncomfortable and automatically implies that the two of you are different.The best relationships I formed this year were due to my open acknowledgment of the person's achievements and a genuine interest in who they are as people. I reached out to quite a few of my favorite bloggers and received an overwhelmingly positive response. I've even become friends with some of them!From my positive experience with people I look up to, I have reinforced the decision I made to be more open myself.I have devoted myself to helping as many people as I can through my blog and training. So far I have received tear-jerking responses, helped people achieve amazing body transformations, and made quite a few more friends!Be open to people around you. You can learn something and grow as a person from every single one of them.
7. Carbs Are Not A Necessary Food Group
Update from Amy Jan 13, 2017: I wrote this post when my wellness philosophy was... different. Completely restricting food groups seems to do more harm than it does good. Every time I tried to do this, I ended up bingeing on the restricted food later. Because I no longer stand behind this philosophy, I have removed this blurb so as not to cause anyone else harm by my recommendation. xo Amy
8. Follow Your Passion
By staying true to my passion for fitness, wellness, and personal development, I have achieved more happiness and fulfillment than I ever thought I would this year.When you follow your passion, you attract others doing the same. You invite goodness and excitement into your life. You open doors that you never noticed existed before.Finding my passion was a long, painful road that I don't recommend anyone repeat.If you are having a hard time determining where your passion lies, take a look at Scott Dinsmore's (Live Your Legend) new course called Live Off Your Passion. It's an amazing way to discover your passions and work your way toward making a career from them... without all the rough stuff I went through.
9. Keep Learning
I mentioned in Homework: Just Do It, one of my passions lies in continuous education.After high school and college, I couldn't wait to get out of the rigid structure and away from the social cliques. As soon as I did, however, I began to miss the actual learning part of it.There is always more to learn. There is always something that you don't know that will make you better at what you excel at.Since becoming a personal trainer and wellness coach, I have received these further certifications:•Equinox Pre/Post-Natal Training•Kettlebell Athletics•NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist... and am currently working toward my certification in Precision Nutrition.If you keep your brain active, you push it to be more creative, and stave off boredom that may come even when doing something you care deeply about.This year, I have a few more things I want to master... but I won't ruin the surprise for you!
10. You Are Stronger Than You Know
This life lesson is one I have learned over the last ten years or so, but has been reinforced by my amazing clients over the last year.I have pushed my clients to their limits. I have challenged them to question their current habits. And they have achieved more than they set out to in the first place, amazing themselves with the level of their accomplishments.Every time I begin on a journey with someone, I start to hear "I can't." If you've ever trained with me, you'll know that this phrase is worse than swear-jar-worthy in my house.I will never take I can't from anyone. You can. It's just hard.That's it.It's just hard.Change is hard.Know that, going into your goals for the next year. Know that you are stronger than you think. You can achieve astronomical achievements in life by pushing past your comfort zone.Every time that I can't voice pops up, yell back I can! See what happens...
11. You Can Change Your Life
I wanted to end with this one because I think it is the one topic people reach out to me most about.Many people don't think that change is possible or don't know how or where to start.That's ok. I didn't either.When I first started going through the program that helped me turn my life around (more on this very soon), I didn't think that my brain would ever think differently. I was sucked so deeply into my clinical depression that I was crying every day, wishing that I would just die so the pain would be over.I saw people like my good friend getting married and looking so content, but I secretly thought to myself, "She can't really be that happy. No one's that happy."Until you experience it yourself, it's difficult to believe that it's possible.But you have to. You have to believe that change is possible in order to start creating it in your life.When I started to actually feel the difference that cognitive therapy was creating in my brain, I began to believe, hope, plan for a happier future! I saw myself achieving greatness and sharing this happiness with other people.And now that's my "job."I never thought it was possible, but I still did it. And so can you.You can change your life. You can.
And you will.
*****This year has brought so much happiness and positive change to my life, so I am a bit sad to see it go. At the same time, I am eager to see what the new year brings! There's a lot of adventure coming in 2012, and I hope you're here to experience it with me!What are your top 3 life lessons from 2011, and how do you recommend people here achieve the same?Very, very, very soon there will be some exciting changes coming to Strong Inside Out. If you haven't already, make sure to sign up for the email list below so that you don't miss the changes when they happen, and so you get first access to the can't-tell-you-what-yet! Also, become a fan on Facebook and join the growing community as we inspire each other to overcome all obstacles!photo of me by Rafa Sandoval