51 | Can You See It? (HIRE the coach)

A lie that I believed for almost all my life is tall people can't have muscles. I am six feet tall. Through childhood and even college, I was extremely thin, like really, really, really, really skinny could not even gain weight. Even if I tried, I ate all of the sugar, all the fattening things and it didn’t work.

Almost a year ago, I came across this gal, her name's Chontal Duncan. I don't know her, but she was on an ad on Facebook as I was scrolling. And I stopped because I was like, Whoa, she's tall. And whoa, she’s got some muscle. So I stopped, I saved the picture on my phone. Like I took a screenshot. I went and looked her up, found her, and was taking and saving a bunch of pictures of proof that it’s possible. I didn't know it was possible before seeing her. And she has done it. As you know, I hired a trainer about six or seven weeks ago, we're coming up to the end of it. We're about to take our progress pictures, measurements, and weights for six weeks. Last night I just reflected, should I stay with the trainer? Should I take a break? Should I do some other things? All of these things are going through my head. But what it really came down to is that I have seen progress, but I'm obviously not like Chontal yet, but I'm really proud of myself and I was like, Jessica, you have got to keep going. You've only been doing this for six weeks. Imagine where you will be in a year if you stick to it for the long haul. And so I printed out the pictures of her finally like I actually legitimately printed them out. I've got one sitting right here in front of me. And I taped one in my walk-in closet so I can see it every day.

There's something about seeing what you want every single day, like seeing the end result of what you're working towards. And I've got multiple examples of those. In this one particular picture of her, she is holding balloons that say 36. So she’s 36 and in great shape. I’ve been saying for a couple of years I would be the fittest I’ve ever been at 38. It was something I wrote almost every day. I am the fittest I've ever been, at age 38. I am the fittest I've ever been at age 38. And I wrote that so many times I saw it almost daily, me writing that I am the fittest I'm going to be at age 38. And then 2020 hits. And I had all these big goals, aspirations, and daily high fives at the beginning of this year, then Rona hit and life changed and I was not consistent. I've been honest about that. Just a couple of months ago, I remembered Jessica, your 38th birthday is coming up and you told yourself that you'd be the fittest you've ever been at age 38.

Then I made some choices. I started to work out with a trainer. I was on the offense about what I wanted to see my life as. When I look at this picture of her with the 36, I'm past 36, and I'm almost very close to 38. And so I'm, I'm not where I want to be, but I look at that and I think, well, you know what? I would not be where I am today. If I hadn't decided years ago that I'm going to be the fittest, I'm going to be at 38. So it's why it's when you make those decisions on repeat, y'all have heard me talk about this a lot. Repeat, repeat, repeat, and you have to repeat what you want in life. You have to see it. For example, I legitimately printed these pictures out of Chontal and it's been so inspiring for me.

I just wanted to remind you guys about progress. The first couple of weeks, when I started working with this trainer, we have a full-length mirror in our bathroom. I was talking to Rob and asked, can I cover this mirror for a month or for a couple of months? It’s so hard not to immediately look for progress, but that’s not how it works! It’s not immediate. You have to put the effort in for the long run!

I want to encourage you guys to spend some time imagining and visualizing the world that you want to see. Visualizing the best possible outcome. Spend some time thinking about that. Spend some time believing that that is possible. Ask the Lord what part you can play in creating that world that you see in the future.

Another thing I wanted to tell you guys is the offense. This week I've just been kind of blah, it's been rainy. We were supposed to do family pictures and it's been really rainy and really cold all of a sudden. And I’m just feeling over it. I've noticed that I've been a little bit blah. I literally did not feel good. So on Monday, I took a nap, and then since I had decided it would be my last couple of days with the trainer I would make the most of it. I did not feel good, but I got up and I went downstairs and did my assault bike for 30 minutes. It was hard and I sweated more than I usually do. I think it was just working on something, working through something, but man, it felt good.

So yesterday again, the rainy mood. And I think it's just the culture and the climate of the world right now. That's really getting to me. I was even texting some friends and being a lit...