Determination

Determination     I associate one's determination with their spirit and courage. You need to have some sense of focus and gusto to keep you moving forward when determined to reach any goal.  In order to do that, there are many days that you need a healthy dose of positive self talk too.  September is here and for many it is the month of evolving, growth, and taking a step forward to change.        Change can be hard  and letting ourselves go outside our comfort zone can be scary.  When working with various clients, encouraging them to try new activities and exercises, I have heard every fear verbalized.  It is our automatic wall that surrounds us, protecting us from failure. We build a moat of fear and words that are not always the healthiest. Thoughts flowing through the moat ranging from "What if I am not good enough?", "I can't do this right now", and "I am not strong enough".    Guess what friends, you are strong enough!  This Fall I encourage you to change the words you use to speak to yourself.  When riding on the river of nerves, shift it, grab a paddle and pull yourself up out of water. Embrace the physical challenge and start by saying a simple phrase "You can do this. It is not impossible.  I'm Possible!".  The phrase "I'm Possible" I picked up when a Walker Coach with Pallotta Teamworks 12 years ago and have carried it around since.  I invite you to carry it around with you too.    Fall is a time to grow and evolve, just like students do every school year.  It is your time to evolve into a stronger, more determined, focused and appreciative athlete. Your body can do wonders, believe in it every step of the way, and know even if you do fall YOU have the determination to get right back up.       Fall is also a time that signifies big steps of DETERMINATION in our family.  September 23rd, 2010, is the date Makenzie was rushed to the ER. Almost one year since her medical journey began, and to say she has "grown, evolved, and has taken a step forward to change" is an understatement.  She has shown more determination and courage this past year than many adults I know.  I am constantly in awe with Makenzie since she doesn't back down or think anything is impossible.  She faced her body's organs breaking down, regained her ability to breath on her own, strengthened her body to walk again and adjusted to a life full of doctors, nurses and needles. She grew to know about life's real hardships involving blood transfusions, surgeries, not living at home with her family, missing half the school year and the big unknown ... if the life she knew before September 23rd would ever be the same.    Throughout it all, she never faltered thinking it wasn't possible to conquer each test figuring what was going on with her pancreas.  She didn't back down to fighting with doctors and nurses, at the age of 6.5, when she didn't want more pokes and needles. She didn't stop pushing herself to walk the hallways to keep her legs stronger.  She never stopped laughing each day to try and "feel" like a normal kid. She showed me what the real human spirit is all about and how to never give up.    And that she didn't. Makenzie has been determined and ready to start gymnastics since the day of her last surgery before Christmas.  She asked her medical team at UCSF every post surgery visit if she could start gymnastics again, to a bummer answer of "not yet Makenzie ".  She wouldn't take the answer, and got stronger. Over Summer she swam every day, and learned how to ride a 2-wheeler. When learning, she fell and got scared, but without prodding by us (her parents) she dusted off and got right back on her bike.  Before school started, she even rode her bike all over San Francisco with fierce determination.  For a kid told she wouldn't make it out of the ICU last year, she is now in 2nd grade and just got the green light to start gymnastics again. She had her first class on Thursday, September 15th.  She still doesn't have the green light to do the uneven bars, but it doesn't matter because she was back in action grinning ear to ear, the entire class.  She is the epitomy of determination and focus.  She never said out loud "This is Impossible Mom!!".  But instead, repeated daily, "I'm possible", and has continued to get stronger and move forward each day.     Happy Fall to you.  Garner your determination, inner athlete and make every challenge possible.  You are stronger than you ever thought possible; believe it!      Challenge the POWER of YOU!   ----Erin Kreitz Shirey Owner & Lead Trainer of Power Fitness PDX LLC

Words from Caprice Carter- Power of YOU New Year NEW You Fitness Challenge Recipient

When it came time to pick who was deserving of the Power of YOU New Year NEW YOU Fitness Challenge, it was very hard.  Many women wrote with incredible stories that would inspire anyone. They were all deserving.  In the end, I picked two Challenge Winners.  One attending the 50+ Boot Camp and one attending the Women's Only Boot Camp.  The women have come to class, been pushing themselves and will be blogging about their journey.  Caprice Carter won the 50+ Boot Camp category, and over $1450 in services throughout the 3 month challenge.  Read on to hear about Caprice and how incredible she is....Coach Erin

Caprice's words....

March 1, 2011

Erin has asked me to write something for her blog about my experiences so far with the Power Fitness PDX Challenge… I’m not much of a writer but I will do my best.

First of all I would like to say that so far, it’s been ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!

I was one of the winners of the scholarships for the challenge which I am incredibly thankful for.  I had been thinking for a long time that what I needed was a personal trainer or something for me to get my butt in gear and do what I needed to do for myself.  For me. I could never find the time or the money or the organization to follow through on getting back in shape so when I saw the poster and read about the scholarship, I immediately went home and wrote up my story and sent it in. I was so, so surprised and thrilled to learn I had won! Whoo Hoo!

I felt that to honor this opportunity I would need to fully commit myself to the challenge and I have to say that I’m so inspired now, that I think this will be a life changing experience.

As for my story, well… I’ll try to be brief.

About six years ago my twin nieces ended up in foster care in Oregon. Since we were out of state, it took us a year to get them down here through a very lengthy and stressful, emotional and exhausting process. We had to become a licensed foster family, taking classes, having our personal lives exposed and turned inside out and then having to license our home by having to legalize part of our home that was added in the 1940’s (when people just didn’t pull permits for such things), etc… In the end it all worked out and they came to live with us but it took a toll on us. That’s when the real work began. It’s been an incredibly challenging journey and odyssey for us, and for them, for which I can happily say that we are now a family. After a year we were able to adopt them and through working with a family therapist have worked on adapting to our new family life.

That said, as the years were going by, I began to feel that I was giving everything I had out and there was nothing left fore me. No personal time to take care of myself, my body and my spirit. It had been about 13 years (since my daughter was born) that I had worked out consistently. I tried to get back into exercising with bicycle riding here and there, walking and hiking, yoga, etc. but found that it just isn’t the same as an actual work out and it seemed that every free moment I had went to the kids. 

Now my dream has come true. I am so inspired by Erin’s complete and total commitment to what she is doing and her enthusiasm is not only inspirational but contagious! She makes you feel like you can do anything by starting with tiny little steps and on to bigger and bigger steps. The support of all the other women who are also doing the challenge is not only FUN but very inspirational as well. Everyone has their story and they are all here to work on making their lives better together.

I’ll never forget the first morning, all nervous about going out in the early morning dark, and the surprising beauty of watching the sun rise over the still bay with the crystal clear crisp sky. Absolutely Amazing!

I look forward to every work out (and every sunrise) now… Caprice

 

Caprice on right working with Tammy on left. 1st Workout of the Challenge- 2.8.2011