Staying Fit May Require MORE Than Just Working Out

This week I’ve really been working on BALANCE. This actually requires I do things OUTSIDE of working out that can improve the quality of your life. Doing things that rest your mind and soothe the soul.

For those of you who only know the fitness me, you may not know my family history or know my passions outside of fitness. I love art – I draw, design, paint and pretty much do anything I can that allows me to be creative. I also ride a motorcycle, which I LOVE. But more than anything else, music has been a part of me and what makes me who I am today.

Growing up with parents who were in a band, we all lived and breathed music. I played and sang at a young age (yep, that’s me in that pic!), singing for large crowds with my parents at 8 and playing drums with my school choir when I was 9. I took piano lessons for several years and picked up the trumpet, which I played all through school. Music was my passion, my therapy, my first love.

Then life happens. Although I have had the privilege to lead worship and play around town at local hot spots over the years, music slowly took a backseat to my career. Then I realized, I really needed this part of my life to be truly healthy.

Music for me is healing. Many of you have something similar. It may be fishing, playing golf or tennis, scrapbooking, painting, working in the garden, sewing or knitting, taking photographs, writing, or baking. Whatever YOUR ‘thing’ is, I believe in my heart it is CRUCIAL you make room for it in your life. If you neglect that area of your life, it’s easy to forget there is more to life than whatever the one thing you are currently focused on.

Over the last 8 years, I focused on the business so much, I lost this very healthy part of my life. A part of my life that balances out stress and gives me great joy. My goal is to MAKE time for these types of things in my life and not replace them with other demanding things. I make time for TV, I made time to do other silly stuff, I need to MAKE time for more healthy things – in ADDITION to my training and running.

What do YOU need to be making time for? What is something that gives you joy, calms your mind or makes you smile? Commit to making more time for those things in your life so you can truly be healthy inside and out.

Time to Sing
On a little vaca with my sister, we got to spend some quality talk time…and music time together. I feel so inspired, connected and refreshed. Here is one of the songs we taped that we’ve been talking about doing for YEARS. I always loved this song so we finally decided to learn it today and sing it together. Why oh WHY did it take SO long to do this? Because we didn’t make the time. No more. I’m going to continue working on this balancing act until the day I die. I WILL work on my physical, spiritual and emotional health so I can truly be as healthy as I can be – and so I can be healthy enough to be the best I can be in my career, marriage, family and friendships. I mean, how helpful can I be if I’m burn out and tired anyway, right?  🙂

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-JvvNLeSzE]