Change is hard. As human beings, we are secure in the familiar. Many of us fear change, and try to hide from it. We make excuses or look for the easy way out when what would benefit us the most is to make a BIG F***ING CHANGE. I’m right there with all of you; I’ve hung on to terrible relationships, gone back to sugar and gluten at times, and I get comfortable in the ordinary and routine. However, I know that every time I have made significant changes in my life, good things have happened. It may have been hard at first with lots of crying and swearing, but in the long run the changes have made me a better person. They have made me tougher, more confident, and much more self-aware.
Every day we are faced with choices that will take us down the paved road of common and conventional, or the dirt path of unknown and extraordinary. Although most days we will take the paved road, don’t be afraid of the changes in your life and that dirt path. You may not be able to see what’s at the end of it, but more often than not it’s going to be something remarkable.
Tammi Stribling ventured down the dirt path when she joined CrossFit Dubuque in February. She continued down that path by participating in the Whole Food/Paleo Challenge in the month of April, and her life will never be the same. I received the email below as the challenge came to a close, and both Phil and I decided she deserved to be the “winner” based on how much her life has been impacted by the changes she has made.
Many more of you participated in the Challenge in the month of April and overcame the difficulties of change. After talking with nearly all of you, I can confidently say that you are all winners, and I am so proud of everyone! Stay the course, and remember that it may not always be easy, but it will be worth it.
Congratulations Tammi! You are dead-on when you say “this is an amazing start to an incredible journey!” Thank you for sharing your story with CrossFit Dubuque and the community.
-Coach April
My “case” isn’t so much a case as to why I should win as much as it is a testimony to the beginning of my journey to being the best version of me that I can be. Ha, deep right?
So here’s the real deal. When my brother tried to get me to come check out CrossFit, I flat out refused. I gave him every excuse I could think of: I was “too old, too outta shape, I smoked, I was too busy, I have red hair, it’s raining”….blah blah blah….bottom line, I was too scared. Scared I couldn’t do it; that I would fail miserably and be embarrassed in the process. I did eventually end up at an intro class, frankly because I was tired of the brow beating from Tim, Jeremy and Krissy. I wasn’t sure if it was really for me, but I agreed to go through foundations and give it at least a month. I honestly thought I would give it a month and be done, so they would all get off my back. I wasn’t, however, prepared for what actually went down.
From the first intro class I felt something I haven’t felt in a long time. Thoroughly inspired, exhausted, beat up, like I wanted to die, and by the way, “when does that foundations class start?” All I knew that there was something about this group of athletes, something that they had that I wanted. Not to be the fittest or fastest than anyone else, but to be fitter and faster than ME.
Through February and March, I went to WOD, but still fed my body processed, easy, convenient, FAT PEOPLE FOOD – and I was still was smoking. I was a little better off than before CrossFit Dubuque, and I was thrilled every time I didn’t pass out or die, but I was still not feeling that “whatever it was” I was looking for. Then April’s Whole Food/Paleo Challenge began, and that was where everything turned around for me.
Over the past 33 days my life has improved exponentially. I remained strict to the challenge and haven’t smoked (YAY ME)!!! Prior to this, I have never paid any attention to what I ate. I didn’t read labels, hated to cook and plan, and thought the whole process of mealtime was way over-rated. My eating habits ranged from starvation, (seriously), to eating an entire bag of Ruffles with French onion dip in one sitting and calling it dinner. Caffeine and nicotine were staples and the corner stones of my food pyramid. I have always had a horrific relationship with food, and this challenge forced me to step outside my comfort zone and make a change. Before this challenge I felt weak and impulsive and was seriously surprised I made it through.
So I guess what I have discovered is far more than eating clean. I found out that I am stronger than I thought; I can set goals and achieve them. That I do have that “whatever it was” those people had that I thought I didn’t. I learned that there is this really cool group of f***ing maniacs that believe in me way more than I believe in myself; who will kick my ass, piss me off and not let me settle for less then I am capable of. Who hold me accountable, tell what I need to hear – not what I want to hea,; and who truly put up with my sassy, sarcastic, ask-a-million questions (make-nice-Mike-wanna-be-angry-Mike) punk ass. And for that and every ounce of encouragement, for pushing me harder than I have ever been pushed, and for everything I am sure I haven’t mentioned THANK YOU….this has been an amazing start to an incredible journey….!!!
-Tammi Stribling
