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Through this blog I've met so many great people. One of those people is Rachael. She lives in Orlando, loves Disney and is a dedicated teacher. She's one of my texting buddies and I can ALWAYS count on her to be proud of me and be the first one to like any and everything I put on fb. For everything she is proud of me for, I am even more proud of her. She has an INCREDIBLE crossfit story and I am honored that she agreed to share it with me (and y'all!). With no further ado, meet Rachael.
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"You are a beautiful girl and deserve to be loved and appreciated. I'm excited you are open to love and be loved. Love is the root of all things."
A year ago, if someone had told me this, I would have had a really hard time believing it.
CrossFit has done some pretty amazing things for me! About six years ago, I had just graduated college and was standing 5'7" and weighing in at 256 pounds. I could have possibly weighed more, but I've never been big on weighing. I woke up one morning, realized that something had to change, and started being more health conscious. I slowly lost about 70 pounds over the next three years. The following year, I moved to Orlando, Florida and slowly gained back 40 pounds over the course of the next two years. Prior to my move to Orlando, I had been running, but my new city didn't seem like the greatest place to run outside and I HATE TREADMILLS.
Last summer, I just decided one day to walk into CrossFit Mousetrap. It was located near DisneyWorld and had a cute mouse mascot, so I knew it had to be the best choice for me.
I had heard about CrossFit from a friend from high school who loved it and had seen great results, so I though I'd give it a try.
Crazy thing was: I wasn't going just for aesthetic results. I was looking for something in my life that was just for me and I basically didn't want to die of a heart attack! I'd always been a fat kid as well, we know what fat can do to hearts.
Crossfit would slowly teach me that the emotional aspect of my heart was just as weak as the physical. I discovered that, over the past ten years, I focused most of my energy on other people: as long as I could make my friends happy...what else mattered? I have a huge heart but I wasn't loving myself. I blame my amazing family for that because they've always given me such great love. I guess I never realized I was deficient in the area of loving myself. I've been lucky that Crossfit Mousetrap has such a great family environment. Everyone there was immediately willing to open up their arms to me; something I've not been unwilling to accept in the past. I guess you don't really have much choice but to be accepting when you and your fellow Crossfitters walk into the box with no idea what you will be doing within the next hour. I remember one of the first partner WODs that I had to do was with my friend Latanya. We had to carry our partner on our backs. I was terrified, yet she was like let's do it! We both ended up not being strong enough but I'm pretty sure that was the bursting of my safety bubble.
How can you not learn to love yourself when everyday you're pushed past your boundaries? CrossFit has helped me find love for myself by: -Learning to accept compliments from everyone -Sweating and being gross with everyone -Mentally and physically pushing yourself yet afterwards feeling amazing
-Breaking personal goals in strength and skills
-Having incredible coaches who always have your best interest in mind
Without this new love for myself, I know I wouldn't have been able to accomplish some of the pretty incredible things I've done in my time at CFM. I had pull ups in less than 9 months, I felt confident to run in my undies for a charity, and I participated in my first Crossfit Competition, The Bacon Beatdown!!! The old Rachael would never have been able to do these things, yet alone enjoy them.
Yes, most people definitely see my Crossfit changes on the outside but the greatest change has happened in my heart. It's not just a physical change but an emotional one. I am so glad I found a Crossfit family that is able to help me grow into a better person. I have now learned to open myself to others and that wouldn't have happened without my wonderful Crossfit family.
