I’m quick to tell you that it’s great to have a village of support but that you also need to be able to stand alone. Double-edged sword, I know. But there’s truth in it.

While the village may be there to cheer you on and help you, sometimes it’s only at their convenience. Once a special occasion rolls around, they could suddenly become the devil on your shoulder. And because they are your village, you may not see the harm in their “off the track” encouragement. It’s not ill-will or bad intentions. They just may not fully understand your journey.

But sometimes your village is the Angel. And they show up in full force and will show up at 4:30 a.m. to make sure you get your early morning workouts in! I’ll circle back to this early morning insanity in a bit.

But, truly, at the end of the day you do need to have some strength and accountability to yourself  – to rise above temptations without others always lifting you up. I’m not saying it’s easy. And I’m not saying the village doesn’t help! But eventually, you won’t need someone to slap food out of your hand. You will make the right choices because YOU know how far you have come. You know the battle. You have fought the good fight.

I have fought the good fight now for a year, I’ll be honest, I still get tempted to eat poorly. I still get the case of the “I don’t wanna’s!” But I do my best to still eat healthy and stick to the plan. I still workout. But sometimes I’m not 100%. I’m human. Heck, sometimes I’m struggling for 50%! For example, I told y’all last week I was supposed to get up 4 mornings and do cardio stuff. And I didn’t get up on any of those mornings. I slept. I still worked out for the day, but I’m supposed to do the additional stuff too. And it kind of brought me down, cause who am I failing? Not you! I’m failing me. Is it the end of the world? No! But I have a plan. I’m on a mission. And the mission is not going as planned.

I was all gung-ho for this week. Set my alarm for an early workout and bam, it’s a go/no go Houston. Ugh, what is WRONG with me?!?

So I reached out to my village—the people who I work out with regularly, the people who I haven’t worked out with in years, the people who humor me and this blog.

I called out for crazy folks who wanted to do a track workout with me at 4:30 a.m. That’s 4:30 in the morning! Almost immediately, I had THREE takers! Say what? One was out of town, but she’s in for next week; one said she may be able to make Thursday; and one said her clothes were laid out already and she was ready to go! How exciting!

So my alarm goes off at 4:10 a.m. My everything says NO, but I know I have a committed friend, Liza, and she is going to show up. I HAVE TO SHOW UP! Because I need my village for the EXTRA rally support. And I’m not going to let down my village. I’m not!

We both showed up and we both did work!

So I put Tues/Thurs at 4:30 a.m. in stone. And guess what, more of the village is rising up. And now, crossing fingers, on Thursday in the darkness, there will be a few more of us out there to get some work in! And even a few more next week!

It makes my heart happy for so many reasons. I have a village! And they have a village! I mean, I know I have had a village. Between my family, friends… y’all, my readers… CrossFit, ATH, and the Stronger than Yesterday ladies, I know I have a village. But this is the village in ACTION. And we will support and encourage each other! We will have ups and downs. We will have failures and success. We will battle together.

I’m a big ol’ sap I know. I’ve come so far, and in reality, I don’t have far to go. But mentally it seems almost impossible. And then when I do get to where I want/need to be, then what? Who knows! I’ll just have to figure that out when I get there.

But for now…. I  keep grindin’! And I know my village is there as well ❤