How Working Out Change My Life

In the past few years, I was fighting with frequent sickness and my resistance was pretty bad. My lifestyle was quite hectic and since I was working in one of the most demanding industries, it was hard for me to have work-life-balance or harmony. I couldn’t manage my own time. I was busy everyday but it was not very productive. There were several emails in my mail box which I couldn’t reply on time. When the weather was gloomy or cold, I was getting sick and needed to stay at home.

I frequently passed out in the office, at my home or even while making the supplier site visit. That was pretty bad. I skipped breakfast for 8 consecutive years and I didn’t realize that breakfast was the most important meal in our daily life. I felt so exhausted and sometimes I couldn’t breathe so well. I felt my heart was pounding after I walked for 5 minutes. I didn’t pay enough attention to my sleeping hours too. When I read that most creative people barely slept in the night time because their brain was working at the time, I thought waking up in the middle of the night and working on somethings made me creative person. I loved to write. So, I partially thought I was the creative person. That is why like most creative people, I didn’t sleep at night. But it was all wrong. Getting 7 to 8 hours of sleeping at our age is the most important thing to be healthy. 

So, my previous living lifestyle was not good for my health and I wonder if I could be alive until 60 if I had continued to live that way. I worked so hard and I went back home around 8 PM or 9 PM almost every day. I couldn’t show up at some events where I was supposed to go and build my network. I couldn’t even make it when my friends hanged out. So, it was so obvious to see that I couldn’t manage my time efficiently and effectively.

But I had strong desire to change. Since the beginning of 2017, I decided to change as I was awakening by a terrified wake up call. To change all of this, I knew that I had to start with working out and hitting the gym. My stamina was not good and I needed to get more stamina and I needed to build myself a stronger version both mentally and physically. So, I enrolled for 6 months at gym and when I talked about this with my friends, they said it was not good to enroll for 6 months because I haven’t started it yet. They said if I stopped working out after certain period of time, I would be getting weight and fat. If I couldn’t make for 6 consecutive months, I would be wasting my money. 

Well, I am the one who love the money that I make. So, I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be wasting my money. Anyhow, during the beginning days of hitting the gym, when my alarm hit off, I told myself that I needed to wake up now or I would be wasting my money.” Then I moved my ass off from my bed and did the required things before going to gym.

Though I was supposed to arrive at the gym at 7 AM, I normally showed up at gym at 7:30 AM at that time. It was kind of hard for me to adapt the new habit. My trainer at that time said that I needed to respect the time. It was pretty awkward though. I paid him to be my trainer and he asked me to be on time. Though I didn’t like the way he said I tried to arrive at the gym at 7 AM. I also don't like people who show up late. At the first day I started working out, he asked me why I wanted to work out even though I looked so slim and fit. Then I said “Working out is not only for chubby, fat and overweight people. It’s for all sizes. I looked slim and fit but my stamina was not good and my body was not in strong position. I wanted to work out not to be slim or skinny. I wanted to work out to build myself stronger.” 

He said nothing and asked me to cycle for 10 minutes. I was like cycling for 10 minutes was super easy and I came here not to cycle. I came here to work out. But I didn’t say anything to him. I just jumped onto the cycling seat and started cycling. F…! Just after 3 minutes, I thought I was going to die. My heart was pounding and I couldn’t breathe so well. So, my journey to working out was not beautiful at the beginning. I couldn’t walk well. I felt so much pain in my whole body when I woke up in the next day. 

Right after one week working out, I decided to join Yoga class. I heard that Yoga was the best practice especially for stressful people who were dealing with high demanding jobs. It was funnier to join Yoga class because it was harder than I expected. I sometimes did Yoga by watching Youtube in my home before I actually went into the class. But I found that my body was not flexible and couldn’t make twist and fold. I impressed everyone in the Yoga class. They seemed so strong. But I realized that I was not ready to do Yoga cos all I felt was pain.

So, I continued to do the cardio with my gym trainer. I paid attention to my body changes very closely. After 45 days working out, I went to Bangkok with my friends and I found that I could walk a lot. I carried so many shopping bags but I didn’t feel any tiredness. I appreciated a lot to my body changes and I was motivated by this. 

In April, I went to Laos with my friends again and I realized that I could walk a lot, I didn’t feel my heart was pounding with high speed, I felt stronger than before. After coming back from Laos, I joined Yoga class as full time student. I love to do Yoga as it made me stronger both mentally and physically. I normally woke up when my alarm hit off. But I found that my eyes opened before the alarm hit off recently. I woke up quarter to 6 every morning but I actually woke up at 5:30 AM. Sometimes, I woke up since 5 AM. That was really good as I became a morning person.

I was at gym before 7 AM sometimes.  I was motivated by my body changes. I looked myself in the mirror every day to see how my body changed. I took picture of myself at least twice a week. But this article is not about how my body changes. It’s about how my whole mindset changes. 

They say we have to have the purpose to wake up in the morning or to go to work or to do everything in our life. So, I would like to say we must have purpose for everything we are about to do. If we don’t have it, we need to find it. That’s why I asked myself if I had strong enough purpose to wake up early in the morning. Once my answer was yes, I continued waking up early.

My daily routine is kind of normal. I wake up at 5:15 to 5:30 AM in the morning from Monday to Friday. After I washed my face and brushed my teeth, I spent 15 to 20 minutes on social network while I was drinking my coffee. Looking at Facebook to check what’s my friends up to and what’s going on in the world where I am living in. It’s so easy to find the updates on Facebook because everyone was posting everything. I also check my linkedin page too. I read the articles on my linkedin page because those articles are quite good and most of them are inspiring.  Then I prayed and I left my home at 6:30 AM to gym. It’s quite far from my home to gym as I need to drive around 30 minutes even in the light traffic hours. 

But I chose that place because it’s near to my work place. I hate the traffic and it’s quite stressful to drive during the rush hour. So, to avoid this situation, I leave home at 6:30 when there is not traffic. I arrive at gym at 7 AM. I do Yoga from Monday to Wednesday and I do cardio on Thursday and Friday.

Yoga can make my mindset so strong and organized. I was not organized person before. But now I become more organized person and focused on the core things. That makes me productive. I write down things to do at the night before I go to bed. I put the clothes that I am going to wear for work after gym. I go to work from gym every morning. I prepare the gym clothes since at night. So, I don’t have to find the gym clothes that I want to wear in the morning. I get ready all the cosmetics that I am going to take to gym too. So, I try to finish everything at night. 

Truth to be told. I hate when people show up at work late. They are late because they don’t have the strong purpose or they are not inspired by the things that they are doing. So, I try not to show up at work late. Because I don’t want to be the one that I hate.

After doing Yoga, I have 5 minutes to lay down on the mat and my Yoga teacher calls “Happy Hour” because everyone can lay down on the map for a short nap. During at that time, I focus on my breath and sometimes I think what I have to do at work. I make the schedule in my mind. It’s like meditating. I love to do that. 

Breakfast is the most important thing to start the productive day. I skipped breakfast for 8 years and I faced so many stomach problems in the past. So once I started working out, I strictly paid attention to eat breakfast on time. I eat boiled egg before I worked out and have breakfast after working out. I take shower and dress up at the gym before going to work. I drink the fresh juice which is provided by gym for the platinum members as complementary.

Once I get office, I eat breakfast which my aunt makes it for me. I check email and my to-do list in my note book. Then I kick off my working day. I try to go back home not later than 7 PM. Since I wake up early in the morning, after 7 PM is not productive hours for me. I cannot focus on the things that I am doing or I cannot pay enough attention.

I also try to hang out with my team after work. When we hit one target or finish one project, we hangout to treat ourselves. I was non-alcoholic person in 2016. But not anymore. I enjoy cocktail a lot. I still don’t drink too much alcohol. But I do enjoy Champagne, Wine and Cocktail. They can make me relax. 

I always plan to hang out with my friends on every Friday. As I don’t have to wake up early on Saturday morning, I love to hang out with my friends on Friday night and I want to stay late outside and enjoy the real night life. I am not a clubbing person but I like to go to bar to chill out with my friends. My best friend told me that I changed a lot because when she asked me to hang out at the bar a few years ago, I always said NO. But now I am the one who initiate to hang out at the bar to chill out. She always complained about that.

I was the short temper person and too emotional. I always take personally in every situation. But as I said Yoga made me more stable person mentally, I could control my temper and emotion at work place. My mentor said “You need to leave your emotion at work. Otherwise, you cannot lead your team and your decision would be bias.” So, I try not to be too emotional and short temper. But yes, sometimes, I lost control and was out of my mind in some situation. At that time, I remind myself to breathe slowly and count one to ten in my mind. Then my temper got lower and I became rational person again. But it’s not easy to do so. I still need to develop that part. 

Hitting the gym also teaches me to take the challenges and makes me see the problem as challenges in every situation. I am glad that I would love to try the new thing at gym and challenge myself every day. For example, I don’t feel any pain when I lift 20 Lbs when I squat. Then I push myself to lift 25 lbs the next day. I walk 20 minutes and feel normal after walking that long, I push myself to walk for 25 minutes by increasing the gradient level and speed. My gym trainer and Yoga teacher always say “You need to challenge yourself, this is how you grow and become strong.”

Sleeping is also important. I didn’t pay enough attention to my sleeping hours in the past. But now I try to sleep at 10 to 10:30 PM every night. Before sleeping, I reflect what I did today. I ask myself if I did the things that I wanted to do and if I was productive. If the answer is yes, I remind myself to keep it up. If the answer is No, I remind myself to change the things that I did was not productive. I also take vitamins which I refused to take a few years ago. 

I also look for the inspiration quote on pinterest every day. I like to spend my time on pinterest because I can find the quote which can match with my current situation and mood. I save so many quotes from pinterest in my phone.

When I watched the interview of Jim Carrey by Oprah Winfrey, I learned how Jim visualized himself in his career. He said he wrote 10 million dollar cheque himself and kept it in his wallet. He told himself that he would earn 10 million dollars one day for making one movie. After 5 years later, he earned that amount of money when he filmed Dumber and Dumber. So, I realized that I needed to visualize myself to grow. I always tell my mind what I want to be after 5 years or when I turn 35 or 40 before I sleep because our mind always believes the things that we tell ourselves before we sleep. They say we become what we believe. So, I learned to set up big goal and not to give up until I reach to that place.
 

Well, now I found that I become more productive once I become organized person. Of cos my personality also changed too. I was not the one that I used to be one year ago. I changed a lot. But to be a better person with better vision of myself. I treat myself so nice because I need to take care of myself and I love myself. I always ask myself if I am happy before I sleep too.

I am so glad that I become more open minded person. I used to judge people a lot but now I don’t judge them. I just focus on my life, my goal, my family, my friends, my health and happiness. People said that I couldn’t hit the gym for six months because I was too weak to do so. But it’s been nearly seven months and I work out five days in a week. I become stronger, better and happier person that I wanted to be. Well, I am still going and I will never give up. I am urging all of my friends to work out too. I wrote this article because I wanted to share how working out can make me a better person and urge them to take care of themselves too.

I just changed and I am glad that I changed. So, I hope everyone changes to a better version of themselves too. I could manage my own time very effectively. I became a schedule person who always stick to her schedule. I focus on having work-life balance. After I leave my office, I don't bring any stress or pressure to my home. Of cos I become more productive. I also realize that being productive doesn't directly proportionate with the amount of working hours. Now I am happy for the person that I become now. I tried so hard to be the person that I am today.

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