As a life-long athlete, I absolutely love the feeling of pushing myself to see what I can achieve. My drive always gave me more energy to complete all of my other responsibilities beyond the playing field. I learned how to prioritize and organize myself in such a way that I made it look easy and effortless.

When I had my first child in my late twenties and my second ten years later, I realized that the majority of my time was being spent on nurturing and focusing all of my energy on their every need.  I made time for everyone else but I ended up at the bottom of the list.  I was no longer a priority – even to myself.  I had allowed my own need for continued development and personal growth to lapse.

Yet I hadn’t forgotten my dreams and goals. They kept entering my mind and I was reminded of all of the things that I had not yet accomplished and still desperately desired. There just did not seem to be enough hours in the day for me to run the household, be a wife, be a mother and still fulfill my aspirations. I would literally have to be Wonder Woman!

However, who said that it couldn’t be done?

Then, I had an aha moment and remembered about the girl who fit everything in and made things look easy and effortless; I had to wake up the athlete inside. I’m sure many of you have heard about the need to adopt the athlete mindset for achieving your goals. There is a lot of truth in that analogy. Having been an athlete, I have an intimate knowledge of why that makes sense and what it truly means. Athletes have a fierce determination and will continually practice. They put the time and effort in until they master their skill to be an effective team player. They prioritize other responsibilities to be successful; it’s all about creating balance.

Athletes exercise regularly and reap the additional benefits such as relieving their stress, increasing their energy levels and being mentally ready to take on any challenge that comes their way.  When I thought about all of this, I realized what I had been lacking in my athlete mindset: exercise. This gap was affecting the other areas of my life. In order for me to achieve my goals, I had to include exercise as well to fully get back my athlete mindset. I took action and connected with my friend and personal trainer Bill Juby.

I told Bill, “I really need you to help me wake up the athlete inside, because I know she’s still there and can bring me to my highest level. I have all of these goals that I want to achieve but I know to do that, I have to get my body moving again. I’m not interested in becoming buff, but rather having a healthy maintenance plan so that I feel good and have more energy.”

Bill responded, “Oh, she’s in there. Let’s wake her up!”

For me, having a personal trainer kept me accountable and made sure that I showed up for practice. With Bill’s knowledge, he created routines that would get me in and out of the gym in an hour. I went to the gym twice a week, which was a realistic goal for me since I had not been going at all. I needed to acclimate myself to my new routine and get my body used to moving again without hurting myself.

When I told some people that I was working with a personal trainer, they said, “Why would you need one?” or “You’re not overweight… you don’t need one” or “Don’t you know how to exercise from playing sports?” These comments are common misconceptions. Those are things that people are only looking at from a superficial point of view.

Like a horse, I put my blinders on and stayed in my own lane.  All that mattered to me was what my reasons were for hiring a personal trainer. Investing in yourself is never a waste of time or money.

You know what happened? I had more energy, laughed more, let go of things that no longer served me, had increased motivation, and rediscovered my determination & drive. Most importantly, I have been able to show my kids that nothing is impossible. When will you decide to find the athlete inside of you?