We are only the sum of our experiences.

There’s nothing wrong with a curious mind.  There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be more, see more or do more.  Once upon a time, I thought this made me ungrateful for things in my life.  I have always been that person who was constantly looking forward to what was next.

I do credit my weight loss success to being able to visualize the future and look forward to all the possibilities that could come.  I was curious about all the things I would be and all the things that I could become.

Everything I do, every battle I fight, every tear I shed and every victory I share makes me the person I am.  I want to keep growing and knowing, whether it's easy or hard.  The experience makes me stronger and better. We are only the sum of our experienc

My curiosity of life has been sparked.

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I don’t know if it was the weight loss or watching my mother battle cancer like a champ (maybe it was a mixture of both) but I knew I couldn’t waste a moment more of my life.  I’ve been seeking out new adventures, meeting new people and just trying to better myself by exploring what is out there. That’s what sparked my need to run and travel.  That’s when it all started, after I watched my mom fight cancer.  If she could do that, I could run all the races I’ve ever wanted. During that time my mom found strength in me and I took the time to find strength in my curiosities and dreams.

Yesterday riding in the car from our trip to Memphis, Willie turned on Girl on Guy podcast!  (This is really an amazing podcast that always sparks some great thought and I do recommend everyone take a listen.) Aisha Tyler spoke about that she’s learned that “we are only the sum of our experiences.” This really got me thinking because this is how I choose to live my life.

Everything I do, every battle I fight, every tear I shed and every victory I share makes me the person I am.  I want to keep growing and knowing, whether it’s easy or hard.  The experience makes me stronger and better. We are only the sum of our experiences.

Willie says I like to talk about the past a lot but it’s really not talking about the past, it’s relieving the experiences.  Afterall, what happened yesterday is now the past, right?  My mile posts in life revolve around the experiences in my life.  I can’t remember the years but I can tell you what happened.  I am a sum of my experiences and right now I’m trying to create as many experiences for myself (and Willie and I) as I possibly can.

I am choosing to live.  Are you choosing to live? Experiences happen and I want to keep moving forward and learning from the past.  I do want to make sure that I am making difference in advancement and not going backwards.  This year was the first time I thought I actually took some steps backwards but through some self-revelation, I’m am back on the road back to curiosity.

I really don’t want to lose my curiosity for life because that means I will stop wondering.  I will stop growing.  I will stop trying.  And life will becoming routine and boring.  I promise to always seek out a new challenge and adventure.  That’s probably why our zip lining adventure meant so much to us.

What do your experiences say about you?

Zip lining is our non scale victory

Zip lining is our non scale victory

Willie and I always said when we lost the weight, we would do some things like go to China, travel more and go zip lining. I’m two years past hitting my goal weight and we still didn’t zip line. Today we finally enjoyed the view from the tree tops at Shelby Farms. The non scale victory really came because it was great to not have anyone question our weight and we were just normal. We actually planned to go in Chattanooga but we canceled those plans and decided to come to Memphis. This was the biggest thing we had planned…

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Don’t be afraid to accept a compliment

Don’t be afraid to accept a compliment

Believe it or not, people still give compliments but most of us are bad at accepting them.  Why is it so hard for people to accept compliments? Compliments are nice things that are meant to boost our self-confidence but most of the time compliments are turned into something negative. When someone issues me a compliment I know I usually turn it into something negative. The usual response is something like, “Thanks but man I’m…struggling/hurting/tired/etc.”   I don’t know how to accept it.  I’m not one for attention either so that is probably half the problem. Willie, on the other hand,…

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Weekend, meal prepping & looking for snack ideas.

Weekend, meal prepping & looking for snack ideas.

I’m enjoying some time off work to run some errands around town. There are lots of things to do plus it’s my BIRTHDAY week. I had to get my driver’s license renewed in person. I haven’t had to get a new picture in a long while because I’ve been able to renew online. This time I had to go in to get it done. I wasn’t there all morning but I was there for awhile. But I don’t think I look much different from my picture, right? I’m not really trying to celebrate my birthday all week but it just…

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Five most important exercises for strength

Five most important exercises for strength

I missed my five things Friday yesterday because I was busy but that doesn’t mean you’re going to miss out on this great part of the blog.  This week I’ve been teaching out of the wah-zoo and I’ve been trying to keep up with my own running workouts.  I missed a strength training workout that I’ll hopefully be able to do today. Last night I did my long run.  It was pretty, hot and windy all at the same time. I’ve been working out a lot this week and I’ve been working on some projects which really got me thinking…

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Vegetarian eats this week: sloppy joes and some …

Vegetarian eats this week: sloppy joes and some rice “salad”

It’s been a long week and I realized that I didn’t share with you what we made this week to eat. There’s no time like the present to share. It’s nothing spectacular and was kind of a slow week in our house for no reason at all. But it’s the a time of the week where I show my vegetarian eats this week! We haven’t really changed up our breakfast in like 3 years so we’re still eating the same egg and overnight oats. It works. I don’t even do anything different to the overnight oats which I should. I…

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Another day and the best version of yourself

Another day and the best version of yourself

This post will be about nothing. I have a lot of ideas floating round in my head but nothing is sticking. I probably have too much floating around in there to focus on one thing. It’s not just a today problem, it’s been a week long problem. It’s Monday and that means I usually post inspirational/motivational things but I can’t just pin point one message today so you’re going to get many or nothing at all. That gray area in life doesn’t exist to me. I’ve really tried to come up with something to share with you today, but I’ve…

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Week three of meatless eating

Week three of meatless eating

Hello all! Yesterday was a crazy nuts day. Tropical Storm Bill dumped a lot of water on our city and was just a very scary and frustrating day. We can see clearly now that the rain is gone so I thought it would be best if I returned to the blog. So this is week 3 of us switching to a more plant based diet and things are going well. I’ve been worried about being low energy and not being able to really live this way because I struggled with it so much before. Now with proper research and planning,…

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Get a healthy dose of Vitamin D

Get a healthy dose of Vitamin D

It’s summer so let’s go out and enjoy some rays and soak up some Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is important for keeping strong and healthy bones and is vital for the body to absorb all that Vitamin C. As women, I’m really concerned about osteoporosis especially as I grow older and getting a healthy dose of vitamin D will hopefully keep that away. It’s a rainy day here in southeast Texas so it’s only appropriate that I talk about Vitamin D.  It’s hard to get your vitamin D when the sun isn’t out. This D vitamin helps our immune system…

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Lessons for achieving your goals

Lessons for achieving your goals

Want to achieve your goals?  The biggest tip I can give you is to stay focused on your goal. There are many distractions in life and there will be obstacles that will take you off course.  Those are the times when you should check-in with yourself to regain focus on what you’re actually working towards. Weight loss is never an easy road and it’s easy to get frustrated or to lose hope.  Keep pushing through those tough times to build your strength, resolve and character. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it, right? Always have a plan to…

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Five things: Weight Loss Edition

Five things: Weight Loss Edition

Happy Friday everyone!  It’s been a long week but I’m glad I made it to Friday.  The bad news is our air conditioning is on the fritz so it’s hotter than biscuits in our house. I had to get some AC is out provisions.  Hopefully, the unit will be fixed today but I’m skeptical. Anyway, I wanted to start doing the Friday Five thing but with a twist…with some helpful information for people so this week’s topic will be weight loss. 1. Weight loss is a process.  It’s not going to happen overnight so be patient.  It always helps if…

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