What are you struggling with today?

[oystergirl]

Today is a difficult day for me, but I plan on going to do my workout in a few minutes. My daughter just came home from school to tell us that her good friend's father committed suicide by blowing his face off in the basement of the family house and his oldest daughter found him like that. The mom had cancer years back and had strokes as well and seizures and so could not work and needed a lot of tending to. Now the two girls and mom are left with no insurance (you cant collect if you kill yourself), no income and the deep pit of despair that their dad felt it was appropriate to kill himself in that manner.

I know that sometimes life can become too difficult for someone and that depression and other emotional issues can cloud your judgement and make you feel that suicide is the only way out. I had a good friend who managed a Suicide hotline in sacramento for many years before he was killed in a motorcycle accident and he said most times people are just too scared to reach out for help and then make poor choices because they simply cannot see a way out. There is always a way out.

I am sad for these lovely vivactious unique young women who love to read harry potter and act and still enjoy being girls. I am sad that they will have to deal with the grief of losing their father, then the rage and anger at what he chose to do not only to himself, but to them and finally that empty spot they will feel in years to come when they experience a mile stone and he is not there with them. Some people might think I am callous but I am so angry right now and cannot shake the idea of how very selfish it was to commit such a violent act around children.

If he wanted to kill himself, why not do it in a just as permanent manner, but spare his children the years of psychological damage that this type of thing can cause.

Sorry to vent such a difficult thing here but you all have been so supportive in the past and it is very difficult to talk to my husband about death because his dad died when he was 14 and this has torn him up too. He remembers what it feels like to be a teen and suddenly your life changes forever, and though his dad died of cancer, he still missed loads of Pete's life and it still hurts him.

Huge hugs everyone. Life is such a precious gift and unfortunately sometimes we forget that. If I offended anyone with my rambling who may have been close to a similar situation, I apologize, I just needed to vent how I was feeling in a non-judgemental space and I thank you all for that.

[Nmetzler]

Currently struggling with measuring my progress when it comes to my fitness level. I take weekly pictures but they seem to look like they did from 6 months ago. Such is life i suppose and i know that i'm not always the most impartial judge of my own progress (unrealistic expectations, and a skewed self image =p.) For now i'll keep plowing along and make it a lifestyle choice that I enjoy and not get overly disheartened with my expectations of progress.

[LRB]

@Oystergirl - Oh. My. God. That is awful. Those poor kids, that poor family. Yikes.

As for me? I'm struggling with mortality. Not mine -- I'm immortal (or basically choose to pretend I am, because I'm 41 and in good health and have no sign/symptom of being otherwise - other than the fact that I'm alive which means that I will most certainly die at some point). But anyway, back to my point:

A good friend was diagnosed with Stage IV inoperable brain cancer a few months ago.

A high-school friend died over the past weekend from breast cancer.

The mom of one of my kids' peers at church was diagnosed with a very fast-growing breast cancer about a month ago.

Another friend was diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time.

And my best friends' daughter, who is almost 10 years old and who has spent about half her life in hospitals, who had a five-organ transplant about a year and a half ago, and who was in complete remission from one-form of post-transplant cancer, just found out that she has another cancer and nobody is quite sure what to do about it.

WTF, life? Seriously, WTF?

[Hammlin]

just heartbreaking

[cracked_belle]

Today is a difficult day for me, but I plan on going to do my workout in a few minutes. My daughter just came home from school to tell us that her good friend's father committed suicide by blowing his face off in the basement of the family house and his oldest daughter found him like that. The mom had cancer years back and had strokes as well and seizures and so could not work and needed a lot of tending to. Now the two girls and mom are left with no insurance (you cant collect if you kill yourself), no income and the deep pit of despair that their dad felt it was appropriate to kill himself in that manner.

when she was very young (middle school-ish age), my mother found her older brother in a similar situation: he attempted suicide via gun to the head and failed. henceforth, my mum and her other siblings hated going places with him because of how he looked. eventually, they agreed they'd go out with him in public again if they could make jokes about it. my mum's side of the family tends to use humour to dispel awkward situations and emotions.

even to to this day, I think it still really messed her up. but she worked through it.

so I'm sending my prayers/wishes/good vibes your way with hopes that y'all make it through this. <3

[Anivair]

Today it's equilibre stuff. I can sort of frog stand, but not for more than 3 seconds. And I think I noticed today that my squats are junk a few degrees below parallel. that's okay in the gym, but not when you're doing pistols.

OTOH, after some more testing, i can get up fine, so maybe I just can't keep the leg out straight. No idea. I just know I keep falling on my arse.

Also, holy crap I just saw that stuff I came after. Suddenly my pistol squats seem like small potatoes. Sorry to hear about all the heavy stuff.

[JamesAE]

What did I struggle with today? Keeping calm when my teacher came over to me during a rest, and told me I'm not doing enough work. I had just finished leg pressing 340 lb for 3*15 ( my personal best ). What does she want me to do? Kick down the Parthenon?

[bigm141414]

What did I struggle with today? Keeping calm when my teacher came over to me during a rest, and told me I'm not doing enough work. I had just finished leg pressing 340 lb for 3*15 ( my personal best ). What does she want me to do? Kick down the Parthenon?

Obviously she wants to build her own human wrecking ball crew

[Morrigainz]

@oystergirl I'm so sorry to hear that. Death of a loved one is difficult enough, and suicide even moreso, and so I can understand your anger at him for being so selfish. I'm sending my thoughts to the family.

Now the rest of my day doesn't seem so challenging. Puts it all in perspective :/

[JamesAE]

Obviously she wants to build her own human wrecking ball crew

Wow, don't blame her actually ...

[Moxie Hart]

@Oystergirl Wow. That is heartbreaking.

[Smiley]

Hugs to everyone, especially oystergirl and LRB.

I'm struggling with motivation - I was doing so well, then slowed down, and then stoppped. Yesterday was the first day in 3 weeks I went to the gym. And already today, I'm trying to find excuses. I just need to find some motivation that will last longer than 3 weeks :/

[Orangutan]

Staying up until the plough goes by because the driveway needs to be done by 6 am. It is 3:45 and I want to sleep.

[MollytheMO]

My boyfriend of 13 months broke up with me yesterday after I got home from a 9-day visit with him. No warning or anything...it's been a rough couple of days. And while it isn't an actual death, it feels like someone died because both of our families are devastated and don't understand. Still trying to make sense of it myself.

[tec1207]

I am having a lot of trouble with consistency/motivation lately. The more I talk about it though, the more I am realizing that it is simply a problem with me which only makes me feel worse that I'm not doing anything to make myself better and I get caught in a pity party and don't do anything. Blegh, there... makes me feel pathetic.

Is there anything you guys do to stay consistent with workouts? Any tips? I think I'm in the same boat as Smiley...

[bigm141414]

Is there anything you guys do to stay consistent with workouts? Any tips? I think I'm in the same boat as Smiley...

Really the only thing that has helped me stay consistent is my little exercise log book. I've made it a habit to write every day what I did. It does 2 things for me: 1) reminds me if I haven't done anything in a few days (for off days I always write Nothing to remind myself I was lazy), and 2) Shows me just how far I have come for those days when I feel nothing is going right.

[Morrigainz]

I am struggling with being bloated, and the scale moving back up. I haven't been 100% perfect (nachos, beer, burger, lasagna, quesadilla, fries, donut, sandwich from superbowl day to saturday) but other than those meals (it was a bad week I guess) I have been really good. I thought I was getting my period but it hasn't showed up yet and I'm still getting that awful bloated feeling...and I look like I'm preggo again. When, after 2 weeks of eating paleo, I lost 3 lbs and had started to see some real progress. Frustrating

[Atalan]

Not going and gorging on cookies.