Three revelations I had during my comp prep

I’ve learnt a lot about myself, not just during this prep, but over these past few years.

Taking control of your health and fitness naturally leads to a lot of both retrospection and introspection.  It requires you to be particularly cognisant of what’s happening to you at all times – both physically and mentally.  This includes things like keeping an eye on what foods are inflammatory for you and illicit different responses in your body, so you know what to avoid or what works for you.   Or noticing little niggles that weren’t there they day before so you can catch injuries early on.

It also involves being hyper aware of other things that are happening to you on a more emotional level. Having this constant tab on how I’m feeling became a really important driver for me throughout the prep.  It allowed me to learn more about myself and my situation – I was then able to use this knowledge to drive and motivate me through my prep. 

There have been countless revelations I’ve had along the way, but below are the main three that have completely changed my mindset and enabled me to grow.

1.     I can’t control what happens to me – but I can control how I react to it

As a self-confessed control freak, just the mention of the topic of control is enough to spin my head around. But through this prep I’ve come to realise, there’s always going to be so much that is completely out of your control.  There are always going to be road blocks and it’s up to you to work around them.

One of the things I am most proud of myself for, is completely flipping my mindset around and being able to calmly and logically approach situations that previously would have sent me into a shame spiral. Instead of freaking out entirely, I now know it’s up to myself to choose how I react – whether I let it stress me out or whether I figure out the solution and move on. [Although I do have my coach, Jared Hustler, to thank for helping me through some of these situations!]

From forgetting to take my beautifully prepared meals to work with me one day, to ‘accidentally’ eating an entire bag of lollies (sorry Jared!), to things that were more outside of my control such as failed train station signals preventing me to get to the gym.  How I react to things out of my control has completely changed.

2.     I am capable of so much more than I give myself credit for

One of the first things I realised when I set out with the goal of competing in a bikini comp was that, if I put my mind to something, I can actually accomplish it.

Sounds simple, right? But, for someone who has dealt with a lot of self-doubt and negative self-talk, I’d always convinced myself that things like this took a level of dedication I just didn’t possess.  Oh, how I was wrong! And that has been one of the biggest motivating factors for me.  I’ve managed to soldier on throughout and I’ve pleasantly surprised myself with my dedication and commitment to accomplishing the daily tasks I need to succeed.

Part of this was realising, there’s always another gear.  I had to really dig deep for this prep.  I had to find drive to do things even when they were the last thing I wanted to do.  There were countless times where I could have just skipped that one workout or just had that one drink but I didn’t (humble brag alert: I did neither of these things the entire 22 weeks!).

Once I worked out why I had embarked on this journey in the first place, I used this to fuel my fire. And, even when it seemed like I had Everest in front of me, I dug deep and found that sixth gear that kept me going.

3.     I have the most incredible support network

I’ve very quickly realised how fortunate I am to have so many people that not only care, but are invested in this journey with me. 

I knew that I had a good network around me, but I sadly didn’t quite appreciate it until the final few weeks of this prep.  I had posted a story on Instagram – something nondescript most likely – and all of a sudden, my inbox was full of people spurring me on.  Friends located around the globe, colleagues old and new, family and even some complete strangers.  People interested (if a little perplexed) as to what I was doing and how I was going. It was really eye opening.

My friends, family and coach have been my rocks.  If I ever needed a pep talk or a motivational speech. They were there for me.  If I was feeling flat, I simply had to put my hand up and say ‘hey, I’m struggling today’ and there would be no shortage of people to give me inspirational words and try and make me feel good about myself.

This also includes when it came to sharing my accomplishments.  At first, I was nervous and apprehensive about sharing things like progress photos for fear of what other people would think.  But soon I realised just how genuinely proud of my progress they were. It’s so easy to forget to celebrate your hard work.  You convince yourself your accomplishments aren’t as important or as big as other people’s. But the support of my friends and family trained me to see the progresses I was making as accomplishments instead!  Things that didn’t seem like a big deal to me, they always made a huge deal about. And their confidence in me has gone a long way to improve my own confidence in myself.

This particular chapter of my ‘journey’ may be ending at the comp, but it most definitely isn’t the end of the entire thing.  As I continue on my way towards becoming the best version of myself I can be, I’m sure the lessons will continue to roll.  So stay tuned for Revelations Pt.II!

Robyn xxx