Joy Fitness # 8 - Empower Yourself

       What's going on everybody, hope your week has been going well so far. The weather has been great recently; the only bad thing about fall is that you know that winter is right around the corner. Hopefully we get lucky with another warm winter just like last year. Anyway, today I want to talk about a specific word - Empower. The definition of empower is the following: 1-Give someone the authority or power to do something; 2-Enable someone to do something. The reason I wanted to touch on this word is because it has so much meaning, yet most people don't apply it into their own lives. Whether it be diet and fitness related, or financially related, empowering yourself is what it takes to be successful in whatever your goal may be. Every morning, you make the decision of what you're going to do that day. Let me repeat...YOU make the decision. There are always obstacles present in any goal, but at the end of the day the responsibility falls onto the individual striving to achieve that goal. If you tell your best friend you are going to pick him/her up at work at 5:00 p.m. and you don't show, you are accountable for not being there. Suppose your sister or brother told you that they would have the car home in time for you to pick up your friend by 5:00 p.m. and failed to do so, YOU are still accountable for not being there to pick up your friend. The point is, regardless of the excuse, it is just that...an excuse! If you have a specific goal and you know what the protocol is to successfully attain that goal, then do it! If not, then the blame is put on yourself. Empowering yourself is applying your energy to something that is important to you; most of the time when people make excuses, it's simply because whatever they are aiming to do is not important enough to them. If you actually want to make a change, start by empowering yourself and make yourself accountable for your actions!