You know that cliché saying “I’m not the same person I was a year ago”? Well I have always heard it and wondered how that statement could possibly be true. I always felt like people couldn’t change that much in just one year. It is only 365 days. I always felt like I stayed consistent and I’ve never had many life altering events or circumstances that forced any kind of change in me. Yet here I am boldly claiming that I AM NOT THE SAME PERSON I WAS 365 DAYS AGO.

I am not the same person I was 365 days ago.

I’m not the same person I was 365 days ago. In exactly 365 days I have moved house from living on a farm to living in the suburbs. I met my boyfriend and fell in love for the first time. I have lost just over 15 kg, seen my body transform, my mindset and mentality has completely changed. I’ve seen my best friends in the states leave and go back home and I have never had to deal with so much stress in my life. So yeh… I’m not the same person I was 365 days ago.

MY TRANSFORMATION

Apart from the change in personality and mentality that happens when you undertake an au pair experience, noticeably the biggest changes are that I am in a love bubble and my weight loss journey. You always hear of au pairs saying they came to America and “put on like 10kg” or “gained a tonne of weight”. For me, it’s the opposite. For me, I finally felt like I had normality in my life. I was no longer bound to a rotating roster including night shift every 2-3 weeks. My schedule was now somewhat consistent, which meant I could work out on a consistent basis. I was no longer trying to fit in a workout before night shift and losing sleep, or post night shift after being awake for 24 hours. I was now refreshed, energised, had normal sleep patterns. My body was ready for my workouts. This meant hitting new goals, lifting heavier weights, running further and gaining more fitness was easier.

Hitting new goals. Lifting heavier weights. Running further.

I was also now spending most of my days at home (opposed to a hospital) with my host kids. Which means I now had more control over what and when I ate. At work back home my breaks would be determined on how stable my patients were and my workload at the time. If I was too busy, I simply wouldn’t eat. Some days I would be going at least 8 hours without a break or food. So being able to cook the food I wanted and when I wanted was huge. It meant I was no longer ‘bingeing’ as much food as I could when I had a chance – because who know when I was going to eat next. It meant I could control my portions and control my meal times. These two factors alone were the secret to my success. Consistency and food control.

THE OTHER SECRET TO MY SUCCESS

After a few months in a normal gym I tried CrossFit and fell in love with the sport and the community. I love that they promote not necessarily you being the best athlete, but promote you being the BEST athlete YOU can be. It is all about bringing out the best version of you. The best thing about working on being the best version of you is being able celebrate the small wins in your journey. And not being disappointed that they aren’t big wins.

Small wins over time = Big wins in the long run.

Why are we so damn negative and hard on ourselves if we aren’t “winning” per se? Today’s culture, our mindsets, the subconscious voices, the media and even the people in our life sometimes do not help. It is so so easy to listen to all the negative voices surrounding you or even the ones coming FROM you. ‘You’re not good enough’, ‘not pretty enough’, ‘not fit enough’, ‘not strong enough’. ‘You can’t lift that’, ‘you can’t run that far’, ‘you can’t run that fast’, ‘that workout is too hard’. Sound familiar? I just decided I was done with this. I chose to be positive. Seriously, we need to congratulate ourselves more often. It’s almost like society glorifies negativity. Why? Small wins over time = big wins in the long run.

 The snowball effect. This was a huge mindset change for me. I decided to start celebrating EVERY win, even the small wins. Because if you don’t, the negativity creeps right back in telling you “you can’t”, “you’re not” or “you won’t”. Mindset change was everything.

THE LOVE STORY

The love story!

In the last 365 days I have found the love of my life. It was June last year, I was in the bedroom at a friend’s house helping arrange their nursery. I looked up, and there he was. Handsome, athletic, cute smile, funny and we clicked… Then nothing happened. Ha. Until August, when we all met up again for some drinks. He had my number from the group text. We started texting, went on a date, never stopped and the rest is history. 365 days, a new business, 2 birds and a car later here we are.

We started texting, went on a date, never stopped and the rest is history.

It is our one year anniversary this week as I write this and it has been the best year of my life. The self-discovery one goes through as they find love and dig deeper into a relationship is something that is all new to me and has been an incredible journey. Like any relationship, we have had our struggles and boy have we come across some battles that life has thrown at us in the last 12 months! But it has all been so worth it, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

365 days, a new business, 2 birds and a car later here we are.

A lot has happened in the past year and it really has moulded me. Some days I have spent in tears, other days I have spent cheering and winning. I can honestly say that I’m not the same person I was 365 days ago.