Knock, Knock! Who's There?? (My Love for ZuMBA!)

**The post below was originally posted in April 2011 and I'm updating it for this week's Workout Wednesday.
The reason i've decided to repost this is, looking back at how much I loved Zumba it still amazes me how far I came while having fun. It amazes me! Exercise can be fun! Zumba changed my energy level, my body and my heart. I was BORN TO DANCE! After doing Zumba 3 times a week for many, many months, my instructor moved her class to the dreaded... GYM! *GASP* I have a fear of the gym, a fear of being judged and an insecure mind. I quit immediately! I stopped working out all together and continued with an awful diet filled with salads loaded with ranch dressing and ended up in the same place I began.

And that brings us to the present... I'm not a girl you will find in a gym, but I'm not the girl who wants to remain tired and unhealthy either. You HAVE to figure out what works for you, you have to change your diet and you have to get moving. It doesn't happen overnight, but it will happen if you change your lifestyle!**

It’s Me… I’m HERE!! I know, I know... I have been MIA forever. *sigh* I have a tendency to get on these "kicks" where I am SUPER, CRAZY passionate about something until something ELSE takes over! {It’s a good/bad thing & a habit I'm trying to break} Does that ever happen to you??

I am channeling my creative juices into a different direction, but I AM working on combining the things I enjoy so much. I miss blogging, I miss blogland and I miss (SUPER MISS) reading everyone’s updates… BIG TIME!!

As for now and the past few months, I have been completely focused on something new, something fun, & something that allows me to be creative (but not crafty), something that is a completely different direction... my NEW passion… ZUMBA!!

(NOTICE: It is a BIG deal, I mean MAJOR, that I posted the picture below.)

This is why I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Zumba! It was NOT my plan to lose weight, inches and tone up in ways I just didn’t realize I could, when I started Zumba. I wanted something in my life that was fun, something different than what I had done before and something that just allowed you to be free for a short period of time everyday. However, when I looked at the above photos side-by-side and shared with friends, I could not believe the benefits that Zumba offered. I had no idea that I was working the muscles that I was; I just thought I was dancing and having fun. Who knew?! A girlfriend said to me, “If I had that type of improvement, I’d be posting these pics everywhere!” Really? I just couldn’t! My first thoughts… “Look at that before picture…Was that really me? Did I really allow myself to get to “that” place?” I was so embarrassed and ashamed of where I was that I could not even see where I am now. I should be proud and slooooowly day by day, I am becoming more proud of what I am accomplishing and that I am feeling like “ME” again!

Zumba did this! I am blessed with a Zumba instructor who is a breast cancer fighter and survivor and is beyond encouraging and a group of family/friends who want nothing more than for me to be the best “Me” that I can be.

Yes, I will be back and I’m beyond excited to share all of the projects I have been hiding and the ideas that I have in-store. I am still SUCH a craft-a-holic & have so many FuN & Spectacular projects that I just canNOT wait to share!!!

*Tiffany

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Women – Build Me Up Buttercup

Why do women insist on tearing each other down? Don’t we know how HARD it is to be a woman? Why can’t we encourage each other, build each other up and praise each other?

Is it jealousy?

Is it unhappiness within one’s self?

What is it?

Growing up, the majority of my friends were guys. They were drama free, non-judgemental listeners and I loved it. Every bit of it!

However, I had a best friend in high school who was high-strung (we’ll call her High-Strung Holly) and although she was a great friend who experienced some of the most exciting things in my life with me, she exhausted me. High-Strung Holly is what I like to consider a Spazmatic and would fly off the handle in response to any situation that went awry. One night Big D had a poker party and didn’t contact her boyfriend to play. Big deal, whatevs, move on. YEAH RIGHT! Boy did I hear about it… Over and over and over again and after that… we didn’t talk anymore. Her decision, Not Mine and it was probably better that way.

I stood up for myself and that really seems to throw people for a loop, because I’m normally a go-along-to-get-along-girl. I didn’t need (I don’t need) that drama and did not deserve the lashing from someone who claimed to be my friend. Build each other up, don’t tear each other down!

(This is bologna... BTW)

I read an article recently, which stated that we become like the five people we hang around most. WHAAAT?! REALLY?! Do we?! Does that get you thinking? It definitely got me thinking.

In college I met a girl who I will refer to Negative Nancy. I did not realize how much we become like those that we hang around UNTIL I met Negative Nancy. I would share stories that made me happy, she would find something negative in them and y’all, I begin to think of the negatively too. The stories that she shared were rarely positive, but I enjoyed her company. Little did I know, I began thinking negatively too! After talking with others and MUCH evaluation, I decided (after trying 2 times before) that walking away from the friendship was best. I cannot even begin to explain the overwhelming sense of relief that I had. Positive things WILL happen when you distance yourself from the negative!

Moving on… I began surrounding myself with positive women, who wanted to watch me grow and truly wanted me to succeed and who told me they were proud of me and actually meant it. What a great feeling! There are still times that I have to take a step back and re-evaluate and I am not afraid to make changes if necessary, but I am truly blessed and grateful for the Positive Pattys in my life.

This is not something new… This is something that has been around forever and will continue to be around, but we don’t have to let it affect us. Find common ground. Praise each other. Encourage each other. Tearing each other down hurts ALL women. 

Today, try to encourage the women in your life.  Give them a compliment, bring a smile to their face, because I can PROMISE you that it will bring a smile to your face too!