Motivation 101: When you are down…how to get back up! Athletes Mentality and Cold Showers

Hey Lovelies,

Stick around for how my injury will be your motivation after my mini injury story:).

I had been a little blue for a week or two because of an unexpected injury! Haha like we ever expect injuries? Ah but you know what I mean. I had been getting really close to the best shape of my life when about 3 Fridays ago at the gym, I had a severe shooting calf pain. I tried to ignore it for a few minutes but then my knee started to hurt real bad. I couldn’t feel my leg for a good half an hour and I just was in excruciating pain, sitting looking silly on the gym floor. Anyways so the doctor’s diagnosis is tendonitis in my ankles, calf and knees! Great what does that mean? No working out for a month and a half. Oh but he said I can swim. Did I mention I don’t know how to swim? Well I did take swimming as  physical education in college for 4 weeks but I didn’t really get far. And due to not swimming regularly I haven’t been able to master it at all.

Now how do you take advantage from my ordeal and use it to your advantage? So ofcourse just like anyone who has been running, cardio dancing, playing basket ball and what not to get in shape when I was told to sit on my butt I was pretty depressed. I won’t lie I am still struggling with it. And oh the work I did is slowly vanishing. But something hits me! I wasn’t always this person who got depressed over injuries like this or someone to whom pain mattered! I coin this as an Athlete’s mentality. I recall in school growing up (pre-college days that is), the only event I was ever interested in was the Sports week. I participated in whatever I could running track to relays, badminton and God knows what all. And it hurt, hurt real bad but I didn’t care. I recall carrying a tube of muscle relaxant around and rubbing it on several times a day then going back to whatever training I had planned for the day. I would like to say the younger me was much more stronger than the new older me! The new me is weak and frail not because I am physically weak and frail. It is because that is who I have mentally become! Look at American football players or any other Athlete for that matter. They get surgeries and few weeks or months later they are out and about playing their sport again. As my husband stated “Pain doesn’t stop them. It is just an obstacle they need to get past. Some sort of annoyance that can be fixed and forgotten”. I understand not all injuries are alike so consult your doctor before trying funny antics but honestly its somewhat power of positive thinking too here.
So why can’t you use this athlete’s mentally in other parts of your life? Yes its great being used for a situation like mine. When you fall pick yourself back up…plan better and keep going. An injury or life blow is just an obstacle which you will fix and move on from. We are as weak as we tell ourselves we are. I spent 2.5 years of my life not being active! Gave up on running and gave up on sports because of my Plantar Fasciitis – Haha yes I know I just have bad legs 🙂 but the moment I stopped caring about the pain, it didn’t matter no more. Sometimes just sitting makes our muscles weaker and weaker. We need to use them to make them stronger.  Sometimes chanting you can do it, will help you do what you need to achieve.

And cold showers can help. You must be thinking I am talking crazy here but honestly that is your first test! I was told by my doctor to ice my legs 3 to 5 times a day so taking my steaming showers seemed alittle out of question. I being the crazy IT person that I am google everything! so I googled cold showers…why? I don’t know but it has proven very useful. Some guy wrote an entire 5 page article about how people who will refuse to take a cold shower are just plain unmotivated and always take life easy. I was laughing the article off when the more and more I read, the more sense it made! Why can’t I take a cold shower? Oh cause it will make me uncomfortable but maybe I should train myself to get past the uncomfortable. Learn that things aren’t always going to be my way and I just have to move on the best way I can. Literally 5 minutes later I was in the bathroom with water running in the tub with the tap handle on the cold side. It was scary at first and I had a few shallow breaths but I did it! Soon the water started feeling warmer. My body’s ability to adapt kicked in! You see where I am going with this? YOU ARE AS STRONG AS YOU MAKE YOURSELF! And now for the past 3 weeks all I do is take cold showers! Its getting easier everyday. Oh and trust me ladies there are benefits to taking cold showers. Your hair gets really healthy and shiny! We will have to talk about that in another post. And guy it also helps eliminate aches and pains.

So if you are scared of doing something…start with a cold shower. Obtaining little uncomfortable goals will help you get farther in life 🙂 I am sure some of you just like me are now running to take a cold shower while others are just shaking your head thinking what a crazy girl! But guess what if it helped me I am sure it is going to help some more people out there. The Athletes mentality and cold showers are your best weapons so use them 🙂

Inspiration of the Day: Positive View

This quote can provide a positive outlook in so many aspects of ones life: career, self esteem, workout or any other goal that you might have! This one is going to be printed and posted on my work wall 🙂

Inspiration of the Day: Growing Up

Hi Lovelies! I have decided that since my blog is all about women empowerment and helping each other learn, grow and change for the positive I am going to start another regular posting which will be Inspirational quotes that can enlighten and help us grow mentally and emotionally. Help us cope with whatever we may be going through in our lives and our esteem struggles. I am all about printing some of the quotes that mean alot to me and putting them around my desk at work so I can draw inspiration from them when ever I feel down 🙂 Feel free to follow if you need a dose of inspiration in your life!

Must Read For Women: Prisoners to Our Body Image – We need to Break Free

Have you ever heard these below comments about yourself or uttered them towards other women?

“Her dress is way too short”

“She always wear such tight dresses and skirts”

“That top is too low neck, she always her boobs out”

“Ewww haha she looks like a boy”

“Chicken Legs!”

It is very easy to show our disapproval towards other women’s bodies and their clothing but it is much harder concept to understand the reasoning behind it that not everyone is out to get attention, show cleavage or prefer to be made fun of by wearing baggy clothes. Women everywhere are uncomfortable in their own skin due to the judgements that get passed on them by other fellow women. If anyone should understand this it should be other women. From my own experience growing up as a stick thin person in school hoping to attain a few curves to now hiding my curves as much as I can. It has been a constant tug of war at the stores when looking at clothes to buy.

It was an interesting journey to understanding this point when I saw similar items on other fashion bloggers  that I am rocking only their hem line seems to be much lower than mine. They almost can pull of their bodycon dresses or skirt as a sophisticated pencil skirt where as pencil skirts have become mini skirts for girls like me. I talked to a quite a few friends who are  busty and realized how easy it is for me to find a cute low cut top but a regular top make them look like the town spectacle where everyone is gawking at them. I have spent hours buying countless items at the store thinking oh this is perfect for work only to realize oops it isnt looking as long as it did in the mirror in the fitting room. Mean while on the other side leaner and petite girls are cinching their wastes, lifting their hemlines to not look like they are drowning in their mothers hand me downs. No need to laugh at them or mock them, they are well aware that they wish the dress fitted them better.

What I am trying to convey is that cut your female counter parts some slack. Similar things appear different on different body types. Adding a few inches here and there can make a perfectly long knee length dress appear short on someone while removal of those same inches here and there might make clothes appear baggy. I understand there are options like tailoring your clothes or getting them altered but honestly not everyone has that kind of money.

Some women are naturally busty and unfortunately no matter what they wear their stuff is always going to be in your face. There is no reason to snicker and call her a slut because for all you know she could have spent hours trying to adjust that top to make it look more appropriate before leaving the house and this might be the best she could do.  It’s easier to understand your body type and its short comings cause your living in it. But every single body type has its ups and downs. Just like certain things dont work for you but you do what you can to enjoy a sense of style and fashion, so do other females. Take a deep breath and let them be because I am sure you appreciate being treated the same way. You wouldn’t understand  them fully unless you walk a thousand mile in their shoes but atleast try or just keep your lips sealed.

I understand not every style of clothing is made for every single body type but sometimes given certain body types nothing seems to fit right. I have attached some of celebrity pictures to this post as an example for those who like to think visually to understand a concept.

Please take some time for today onwards and make a pact to be less judgmental and be understanding of your fellow women. It’s time we give up the catty remarks and making others feel uncomfortable.

Kim Kardashian has one of the most curvaceous and talked about body. No matter what she wears everything seems to cling right to her curves and here is a prime example of a dress Kim wore which was also worn by Posh Spice who ofcourse looks just as impeccable but is way more leaner and sleeker than Kim.  Now think about the girls who you saw rocking a dress at the mall the other day that you and your friends spent hours judging. Is it her fault that she is either too skinny or too curvy to fit the clothes that the society will deem the ideal mold of a certain type of perfect women?

STOP JUDGING LIVE AND LET LIVE

Preity Zinta and Kim Kardashian

     JLO and Blumarine Versace model

A good read for High End Brand name buyers and for ladies hoping they can afford to buy those!

Hiya! I have been MIA again for a day or two! The long weekend just put me in a world of my own and I am having a hard time getting back to regular world and work 🙂

So my thought was I need to write, write about something I will feel passionate about something that will get my blood pumping and get me back in touch with the realities of the world and possibly realities of fashion world!

You can be fabulous on any budget! You dont have to live life thinking oh I wish I could look like this or dress like this or could own that!

So you have been eyeing those expensive brand name heels and possibly a bag or a dress or two. How much of your bank will you break if you were to drop some cash on those items? who knows? maybe your entire life savings (just kidding but close to it!) Why is it that we feel the need to buy brand name items? Trust me I was a big name brand victim! Growing up in the middle east you always wanted the latest of everything! The electronics, cell phones, clothes, brand names and yes even cars! It was always a cat and mouse chase who is going to one up who next. It took quite some adjustment when I moved from place to place, continent to continent and eventually settled in US. Back then the cell phones in the US were outdated and so were the clothes! The brand names I used to buy in Europe and Middle East weren’t even heard of over here! I had to stick it out with the few that were available. Then something changed….something for the positive. Somehow and I don’t know how long it took but it clicked in my head that I dont have to spend 90 dollar on a pair of tube top that is barely 0.5mm of clothing just because its labelled Betsy Johnson! I can take my 90 dollars and come back with atleast 5 pairs of dresses! Get some use out of them and throw them away not feeling guilty that one piece of clothing  was 90 dollars and I have only worn it 20 times in a year!

What I am trying to imply is yes it is okay to have a few name brand things in your closet and splurging on yourself once in a while but if you are having feelings of insecurities that so and so friend of yours is buying brand name things and you cant seem to afford them THEN STOP…slap yourself real hard and tell yourself this:

“IT IS NOT THE LABEL that makes the person or the clothes! It’s the person that makes the clothing!” Repeat after me and chant it over and over again till you fully understand this.

I might buy the most expensive items and wear them in such hideous manners that you would never guess they came off of the rack of BCBG or Michael Kors!

And quite honestly some of the things I didn’t even realize why were they such a rave for example I refused to love or buy Coach bags till they started making bag without their brown logo all over it! (The original coach design) Do I want to be a walking billboard? No. Just because everyone is buying it, you and I dont have to buy it! Do you really think some of these items cost 700 dollars to be created? not really its just the price you pay for their logo! Well there are some stores that will give you the back story of why something is so expensive so fine charge me big bucks if you really have a good reason to.

So girls every where listen up! Dont feel bad if your budget is 10 20 or 100 dollars a month! Save up a little for that one big ticket item but feel free to flaunt your not so expensive labels because you my dear are the one that makes that dress amazing, not the logo!

Here are some of the cheap fantastic finds I’d like to share as examples. Feel free to comment on the post, agree or disagree after all we are a community and we must discuss whats on your mind 🙂

Charlotte Russe Metallic Snake Skin Pump $30 buy here

Forever21 Pleated Lace Bodice Dress $24.80 . Buy Here

Forever 21 Rope Necklace $7.80. Buy here

H&M Turquoise Bag $17.95. Here

H&M Flower Dress $24.95. Here