Humility Cont.

More and more I have come to realize that humility is so closely entangled with religion, it is hard to break them apart.


I also found some writings of Nietzsche. He views humility as a strategy used by the weak to avoid being destroyed by the strong.


I think it is safe to say that humility is multifaceted and can be interpreted in many ways. For me, I just want to make sure I am keeping my pride in check while having a strong sense of self.


XO

More About Me & A Few Tips

Hey guys! SO many ‘about me’ tags and new girls asking about tips, so I wanted to do an entire blog post dedicated to it.

It feels really weird that 18 thousand people follow me and so many want to know more about me, but it’s also really cool because I genuinely consider my “followers” as friends. Like I am not a religious figure, let’s just refer to you guys as friends.

 

Some k8 FACTS

• My name is Kaitlyn and I do not, in fact, go by Kate.

• I am 24 about to be 25 on April 29^th (Taurus to a fault)

*I feel like I am filling out a MySpace survery rn*

• I bought my first home last year, all by myself. It felt really cool, and it still does. It’s definitely a lot of responsibility but I love having roots. Also, independent girl power.

• I don’t know that I have a favorite animal, but ever since my earliest memory I have loved them all. When I was 13 I chose to become a vegetarian and then around 19 I added fish back into my diet.

• I work a corporate job that I continually grow in and I am so excited to see where I will be within the company in 5 years.

 

 

OKAY now to the fitness facts/tips

Background story:

I was always average size and weight until I reached my biggest size in early college. I then decided to make good use of the gym membership I was paying for and actually got into really good shape. I still partied a lot (a lot) and made poor food choices but I did work out consistently. However, I was so unhealthy mentally. I thought I had to constantly have male approval of my body for it to be considered healthy, beautiful, sexy, etc. I continued working out and being physically healthy and mentally unhealthy up until I was about 22. I would stand in front of the mirror when I was PMSing and cry and cry and cry because I was bloated and I felt fat. That is SO not okay! if you do that, email me right NOW and let’s talk about how we can get you out of that thought process. I then went through a pretty devastating break up… I always take break ups hard because I have a very soft heart and we had been together for a while. Through our break up I learned that I was at fault and it was because of my anger issues that we broke up. I sought professional help in this and it actually helped me to see that alcohol was a deep seeded issue in my life and is where I started to ease my drinking habits (although I continued to binge to a point of scary) and I learned coping mechanisms for my anger.

I then was at my largest EVER. I went to the doctor and weighed in at 200 pounds. But I had learned to love myself. I had a new boyfriend who was different in a way I couldn’t put a finger on, yet. Before meeting him I had learned more about myself than I ever imagined I would at my age. I had accepted that I could feel sexy at any size and shape and I did. Most people think you need to lose the weight and THEN you get to love yourself. I am here to tell you to ditch that mindset right MEOW. Love yourself at step 0. Feel worthy right this second because you seriously are. You offer this world SO MUCH, who gives a rat’s actual ass if you don’t fit into society’s beauty standards right this minute? You deserve to be healthy but you also deserve to be happy. K?

Fit Girl’s Guide only propelled me into deeper self-love. HOLLA at those girls for spreading a message that is so important I cannot even emphasize it enough. I did my first round starting April 20^th, 2015 at a start weight of 177 and I am now almost done with their Bootcamp program and I weighed in at 139 (and it was evening!) most recently. It’s been really cool to see myself change so much on the inside and then see that reflected on the outside. I want that for you. I want you to focus on your inside changes just as much as your brain wants you to focus on the outside.

 

How do I stay motivated?
I really don’t have a cut and dry answer. I see this as a lifetime journey. I have no real “end goal” just small goals along the way that are constantly being met or being changed and I just go with the ebb and flow as best that I can. It's really important to set goals for yourself, btw. Attainable ones as well as bigger ones that may take a while! I went on vacation in October last year and did not hold back from eating one thing that I wanted, and it was hard to get back on track with my eating when I returned. And I just accepted that, got my shit together when my mind was ready, and that was that. You will have setbacks. You just have to adjust your mind to understand that you are not giving up no matter what, you will always get back on the wagon, train, horse? Whatever metaphor you want to use. Just don’t ever give up completely.

 

What tips do I have?

HAVE FUN. Good lord. If you hate running? DO NOT RUN. Guess who hates running? Me. Guess who doesn’t run? Yeah, me. There are endless options for strength and cardio, please do not pigeon hole yourself and get frustrated with something you don’t think is fun or worth your time. Now, I am not saying you don’t think working out is fun therefore you don’t want to work out at all. Not how that works, actually. Step outside of your comfort zone and there will be something that genuinely makes you happy and makes your body happy and healthy. I love to dance? Have you met Dr. Katy yet? She just realized her love of barre and she goes like, ALL THE TIME. What if she never would have went to that first class? What if I never would have gone to Zumba?

 

 Other random tips

 

Please do not scroll through Instagram and think your progress is less than. Everyone is generally just showing you their best shot, regardless of how real they try to be. Even I am guilty of both sides of this at times. Swear. I am the worst about comparing myself to girls on Insta and their awesome progress and bodies. But I am working on breaking out of that.

 

Don’t use the word cheat. It’s not a CHEAT meal, you are eating a meal that you want. Just like the other meals that day were meals you wanted, and that’s why you ate them. You aren’t ruining anything by enjoying a meal out. Maybe you want to look in to counting macros? Seriously, google anything that isn’t working for you. Educate yourself on the many options out there!

 

Eat better, NOT LESS. Do not eat under 1,200 calories and I am not kidding.

 

I find it incredibly easy to stay on top of my nutrition. I never really struggled with saying no. Confession: up until I started bootcamp? I HATED working out. Even when it was the workouts I enjoyed, I still would think about how much I would rather be couching it up or just relaxing in general. Seriously, that quote about it becoming a habit after 30 days or whatever? Well it took me like…. 7 months. So, like I said, just don’t give up. Fake it until you make it. No idea why everything clicked into place when I started bootcamp but it definitely did. Now it’s just something automatic I do every day and I feel off or weird if I don’t work out. And weirdly, I haven’t missed a single planned bootcamp workout. JUST DO IT, Nike are trillionaires because they are right.

Hope this helps and sorry it ran kind of long - I have almost been into this fitness thing for a year now so I have a lot of growing pains, stories, tips and just general passion to share!

I think tomorrow I will do a post on how I meal prep for my boyfriend because I have been getting a few questions about that as well!

XOXO

Walk the Walk

In today’s society, it seems, humility is solely piggy backed upon religion. Most internet searches will return Bible verses and steps to take to “become humble in the Lord”.

 

Also an associated search is, how to hump yourself.

 

This is a bit of a tough word. Everyone says “be humble. Humble yourself. Have humility. I feel so humbled.” But there isn’t a lot of explanation as to exactly what that should look like. But we all know what it DOESN’T look like.

 

I have noticed, lately, that I am trying to lay off on correcting people unless I know them well enough for them to know my intentions. I am trying to focus on spreading positivity and light and the important message of finding joy wherever you are.

 

What is your experience with humility?

Always Right

It’s really hard for me to be wrong. I am one of THOSE PEOPLE that are “always right”. I see your grammatical and typographical errors. It’s hard for me to really, truly, hear someone else’s viewpoint on something I care about. (Sometimes, even things I don't care about) 

This is where I will struggle the most with humbling myself. I need to realize that I am not ALWAYS right. I need to open my ears to new ways of looking at things. Just because it's my knowledge or my viewpoint does not mean it is without flaw or that I shouldn't be open to refute.

My boyfriend is my best lesson in this. He is so different from anyone that I would have ever dated. He has some crazy ideas that he spouts off about and I love him, so I listen. It has really shown me, in these past two years, that I am capable of shutting up long enough to let someone else give their view and I am even capable of agreeing with them and shifting my own opinion on some things.

When I put up the wall of “I am right, period” – it’s only me who is missing out. I am cutting off connections and knowledge that I could be gaining. They are just as worthy of being heard as I am, and that is a lesson I need to remember.

XO

Humility and Social Media

Social media mangles humility. Social media says, toot your horn for the world to see (or just your followers). Social media says, filter, edit and post for optimum number of likes to inflate your self-worth.

 

For me, personally, I am starting to pause before I post. Am I posting this because I genuinely feel it has a valuable message worth sharing? Or am I posting merely for likes or for people to cheer my ego forward? In the past few days I have tried to take a step back and remember why I have my fitness Instagram and why I keep it. It was originally for accountability, but I don’t actually need to be held accountable any more. My actions are now habits that I truly want to take part in. I am going to take a step back from posting a sweaty selfie just to clarify that, hey, look at me, I did wake up at 4:30 and get in a workout. Because, it’s a given. And I don’t need to share that every day to feel verified. I do want to focus on sharing food because it inspires me and inspires others. I want to post captions that show my raw and vulnerable and honest feelings, because that’s the important stuff. The sharing, the connecting. I want to make sure I am focusing on getting out the message of the importance of radiating positive vibes and keeping a grateful spirit.

 

It’s tough. I think humility is going to be similar to passion. Sitting here writing about it isn’t really going to do anything – I am going to have to put it into action. Let it work itself out as I focus my intentions into it.  

Humble Ramblings

A lot of people think that humility and confidence contradict one another. Not true. Absolutely 100% be confident in all that you are, it will bring you so much peace and joy internally (and therefore externally). But no one likes that person who is confident in a way that says they are the best, strongest, have gone through the toughest shit, smartest, hardest worker.

It’s okay to be wrong. You are not, in fact, always right.

Where I do struggle with humility is with my time and helpfulness. Ugh, I am so selfish with my time. I need to go see my grandma more, I need to volunteer, etc. but really what I want to do are all things that benefit me. I know, it sounds bad written down, but I am just being honest. I do try to be generous, I try to give back as much as I can to the FGG community, to friends and to family. I never expect anything in return because I just genuinely want to brighten someone’s day in the small way that I can.

I'm not yet feeling a spark of inspiration on the humility writings, but I am getting a lot of quotes that are resounding within me and reminding me to stay true to my authentic self and know who I am.

XOX

Humble Pie

OKAY work has been really busy the past couple of days so I haven’t had time to blog while here!

 

I meditated over the weekend and decided that HUMBLE will be my word for March.

 

Not that I don’t think I am already humble, but I don’t think I have a full understanding for the word.

 

hum·ble

adjective

1.having or showing a modest or low estimate of one's own importance.

synonyms: meek, deferential, respectful

 

I pulled up this article on Forbes about 13 Habits of Humble People

 

They’re Situationally Aware

I pride myself on my emotional intelligence, I can usually just feel people out even if we aren’t in the same physical space.

 

They Retain Relationships

Yeah.. need to dig more on this and do more work… not a strong point for me.

 

They Put Others First

“Humble people know their self-worth. As a result, they don’t feel the need to cast themselves before others just to show them how much they know. Instead, humble people realize that nobody cares how much they know until those people know how much they’re cared for.”

 

They Listen

I could do better with listening, for sure.

 

They’re Curious

Yes, I have this one down pat.

 

They Speak Their Minds

Yes

 

They Take Time To Say “Thank You”

I was just raised this way so it comes naturally, almost always.

 

They Have An Abundance Mentality

I have started working on this recently. I think it has come with knowing myself more and growing up and into who I want to be.

 

They Start Sentences with “You” Rather Than “I”

Humble people brag about others, while the prideful brag about themselves.

Hmm.. I could use work in that area I am sure.

XOX